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LECTURE BY 

Emeterio de la Garza, Jr. 

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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/mexicowarOOgarz 



MEXICO 

AXD THE WAR 



"3.Z BY 



EMETERIO Di -^ GARZA. Ta- 




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COPYRIGHT, 11117 BV 
liMKTERIO Dli LA GARZA. Jr 



APR -3 iSiC 
©CI.A494429 



EMETERIO DE LA GARZA, JR. 



DIAZ GOVERNMENT 

Member of the Mexican Federal Congress for twelve years (1898 to 1910). 

Member of the Commission on Constitutional Laws. 

Secretary to the Mexican Delegation of the Pan-American Congress (1902). 

Commissioner of the Mexican Government to the Governments of the United 
States and China to devise the best plans to establish monetary reforms and gold 
standard in Mexico (1903). 

Commissioner of the Mexican Government to Cuba (1903). 

Special Commissioner of the States of Puebla and Mexico to the Federal Govern- 
ment (1904, 1907, 1908). 

Editor of La Patr-ia, City of Mexico daily newspaper (1908-1909). 



MADERO GOVERNMENT 

Councillor of the Department of Fomento. 

Councillor of the Department of the Interior. 

Councillor of the Department of Public Instruction (1912). 

Commissioner of the Mexican Government to establish a system of rural schools 
throughout Mexico (1912). 

Counsel for the Republic of Mexico to arrange property rights and the distribu- 
tion of water of the Rio Colorado, which irrigates both California, particularly the 
Imperial Valley (1912). 

HUERTA GOVERNMENT 

Special Envoy of the Mexican Government to visit twenty-two of the twenty- 
seven States of the Republic for the purpose of conferring with the Executive, Judi- 
cial and Legislative authorities as to the best and most practical methods to estab- 
lish permanent peace in Mexico (1913.) 

Special Commissioner of the States of Campeche and Tabasco to the Federal 
Government (191 3). 

Commissioner of the Mexican Government to the United States and France 
(1914)- 



Since 1914 Sefior de la Garza, Jr., has refused to participate in any way in the 
factional controversies in Mexico, and pending the establishment of a legal, permanent 
decent, progressive and human government in his country, he prefers to devote his 
time, talents and energies to the interests of the Mexican people as a whole and to 
bring about a better understanding between Mexico and the United States. 



THE LECTURE 



THE lecture in an exposition and an analysis of the most important and timely 
national and international problems of Mexico. It comprehensively deals 
with questions of trade and political relations of the Anglo-American and 
Spanish-i\merican countries. It explains the position of Mexico in the Western 
Hemisphere in its relation to the United States and the Latin-American Republics, 
and also defines Mexico's racial characteristics. It specifically presents the salient 
features of the system of labor under peonage, and methods of education and it pre- 
sents a most carefully conceived and practical plan to establish the much-needed 
social, agrarian, economic, political and religious reforms. 

It narrates the history of the Conquest, the Spanish Dominion, the struggle for 
independence, the Republic, the Maximilian Empire, the Diaz Administration and 
the Madero Revolution; the ten days' Tragedy, the arrest and assassination of Madero 
and Pino Suarez and the rise and fall of Huerta's Government, the insurrection of 
Carranza, Villa and Zapata, and the establishment of the new government of Mexico. 

The lecture treats President Wilson's policy, the Mediation of the South-Ameri- 
can countries, the Monroe Doctrine and Pan-Americanism, and in analyzing the 
international problems involved, gives a graphic account of the Anglo-American war 
for the control of the oil fields, the Mexican-American war for the ownership of the 
railroads, the influence of financial interests — Big Business and Foreign Capital in 
Mexico — the proposed alliance with Germany, the concession oiTered to Japan and 
Mexico's place and duty in the World's War. 

The lecture presents a definite programme, points out the futility of intervention 
for the settlement of existing problems that must, of necessity, be settled eventually 
by friendly treaties, peaceful intercourse and fair dealing. 

Finally in a far-reaching exposition, it offers the solution of present difiiculties, 
the basis for a permanent and peaceful government; it also outlines the outcome 
and the future relations of Mexico with the United States and of the United States 
with Mexico and the Latin-American Republics. 



EXTRACT FROM CONGRESSIONAL RECORD 
MARCH 10, 1914 



Hon. Albert B. Fall, United States Senator, said in the United States Senate on 
March 9, 1914, in part as follows: 

"In May of last year a prominent Mexican lawyer came to this country. This 
■man is a lawyer of standing, a man of world-wide experience and education. After 
visiting twenty-two of the Mexican States, in an attempt to see if it was not possible 
for him to persuade others to join with him in the effort to restore order, he came 
to the United States. Upon his arrival here he furnished me with duplicates of his 
communications which he had sent to the President of the United States. I had 
some little correspondence with him of quite an animated character. I had not 
heard of him for several months. This man holds credentials from Mr. Huerta, 
as a member of the present Mexican Congress, and he has refused to use those cre- 
dentials because they were not issued upon an election but by Mr. Huerta so that 
he might have 'a Congress on his hands.' This man holds credentials in the present 
Congress. He has been offered high diplomatic office by the Huerta Government. 
Enclosed with his letter was a memorandum. As he did not give me authority to 
make any portion of it public, I telegraphed for such authority and received it last 
night. 

' ' Mr. President, I have said that I could not find words with which to express my 
ideas or conclusions as to the conditions in the Mexican Republic today. This man, 
has fortunately furnished me with a description of affairs stick as I did not believe the 
Senate here ever read or dreamed of. He speaks of both parties as you will see further 
along. 

"Mr. Thomas: Mr. President — 

"The Presiding Officer: Does the Senator of New Mexico yield to the Senator 
of Colorado? 

"Mr. Fall: I do. 

"Mr. Thomas: I do not think that I got from the Senator's statement a proper 
impression perhaps as to just for whom this gentleman speaks. 

"Mr. Fall: He speaks for himself as a member of the Mexican race. 

"Mr. Thomas: He does not assume to represent either one of the factions? 

"Mr. Fall: No. He wants me to read over — that is I construe it to be per- 
sonal — a certain memorandum which he sent me which I wired for permission and 
obtained permission to read. 

"Mr. Thomas: The Senator made that statement; but I wanted to be sure now 
he does not represent anyone in the communication except himself. 

"Mr. Fall: No one else. He is an educated Mexican lawyer and his only posi- 
tion is that he holds credentials as a member of the Mexican Congress." 

Senator Fall then read a large part of Sefior de la Garza, Jr.'s memorandum to 
the Senate. 

9 



TO THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA 



THE problem of Mexico is not a personal equation, a faction's venture or a 
sectional issue, nor can it be solved by war. War has seldom ended anything 
but human life. Victory is not always for the right but for the strong. Diaz 
left, Madero came, Huerta was overthrown, Carranza was recognized; one town is 
captured today and lost tomorrow by an army victorious now and defeated after- 
wards; to place or to raise the embargo of arms, Mister John Lind, or Mister Paul 
Fuller, or Mister William Bayard Hale, or Mister Duval West, and their wise or 
mistaken reports or suggestions, notes and warnings of President Wilson, occupation 
of Vera Cruz, punitive expeditions marching into or out of Mexico, mediation through 
the South American Republics, conferences at El Paso, at Washington, at Niagara 
Falls, or Atlantic City, withdrawal or appointment of an Ambassador, the loyalty 
of Obregon, the death of Villa, fighting among ourselves or with other countries, 
intervention itself will not solve the problems nor will it restore peace to Mexico. 
Orosco and Villa crushed Diaz's splendidly dressed and corrupted army. Villa and 
Obregon prove to be more daring than Huerta's ex-convict hordes. But with what 
result? What have we gained? Conditions today are far from satisfactory, and 
eventually they will become worse than exer. 

The problem of Mexico is ancient in its origin, national in its scope, international 
in its importance, and to work it out, besides ourselves we need the generous and 
effective cooperation of all the healthy and constructive humanitarian forces of the 
world, especially of the United States. Revolution is the result, not the cause of 
our misfortune. To establish law and order in that, the most beautiful but the 
most unfortunate land in the world, is as much the problem of the United States as 
the problem of Mexico. The people and the government of the United States are 
face to face with a race, trade and international political problem, not only with 
Mexico, but with all Latin-America, twenty-one different and independent nations, 
with one hundred million people populating three times the territory of the United 
States, and a foreign commerce of $3,000,000,000 a year; this problem is now com- 
plicated by the world war. The whole Pan-American program and policy' is at 
stake. Furthermore, Mexico makes more complex the problem of the United States 
with Europe. Due to the Monroe Doctrine, "The greatest bluff in all history and so 
far the most successful," which prevents European nations from taking care of their 
own interests in this continent, the Government and the people of the United States 
are self-appointed trustees and pro tanto responsible for the loss of European lives 
and properties in Mexico, and at the end of the war or before the end of the war, 
Europe may demand reparation and satisfaction. So the "sick man of America" 
means a problem with Mexico itself, with Latin-America and with Europe ; and upon 
the way, the temper and the tone in which the United States definitely approaches 
the Mexican problem, depends the security, maintenance and improvement of Amer- 
ican business and diplomatic relations with the world. On the other side, the prob- 
lem for Mexico means her life, her nationality, her commercial, financial and political 
relations with all the world. Due to the same Monroe Doctrine, according to which 
you consider any attempt on the part of the European Powers to interfere in America 
as dangerous to your peace and safety and view any intei^position for the purpose of 
oppressing the Spanish-American countries or controlling in any other manner their 

11 



destiny as a maiiilistatioii of an untritiidK' disposition toward tlif I niti-d States 
the European Powers do not deal directly with lis, but through Washington; and 
Central and South America, while ha\ing race solidarity with us, do not dare to 
antagonize the policy of the United States and they also consider and decide their 
Mexican afTairs through Washington. So, when Mexico is in harmony with Wash- 
ington it means cordial relations with all other nations, when Mexicans quarrel with 
the I'nited States, we arc at odds also with the rest of the world. It is, therefore, 
of the utmost importance for both countries to arrange their ])resent differences and 
dithculties, but to arrange them permanently, on a solid, friendly and everlasting 
basis. 

So to sol\e llu' Mexican pioMcni^ we lia\c to go \er\' deep. Deejjcr than the skin, 
than the surface, higher than men. Above all the Mexicans is Mexico. .Above all na- 
tions is mankind. Peace and prosperity in Mexico is a very serious question, one which 
involves all the world. I do not deal with revolutions nor do I care for this or theother 
man. 1 ilo not make a specialty of our troubles and misfortunes ior rhetorical emo- 
tion or oratorical honors. Re\olutions always destroy those who put them on foot. 
Specialists in sickness succumb to the very disease they are trying to cure. Cards 
beat the players. Health is not the investigation of sickness, art is not the criticism 
of defects, music is not the notice of discord, truth is not the refutation of error, mor- 
ality is not the denunciation of vice, mathematics is not the correction of mistakes. 
W'e do not gain anything in Mexico by throwing the responsibility of the tragedy 
on this or that man, on this or that faction, What we need is to go heartily and fear- 
lessly into the great, paramount, essential issues and problems on which the very life 
of Mexico depends and lay down the basis of a good, strong and healthy state body 
and preserve its functions in order. 

Mexico and the United States cannot be enemies; they must be friends. United, 
we are going to live in perpetuity. God has put us together, nature has made us neigh- 
bors. W^e cannot separate or remo\'e our respective countries or peoples, physically 
or otherwise, nor can we build an impassible wall between us. 

I will quote from Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, when he said of the South — 
as we can now say of ourselves: 

"Forever we have to remain face to face, and intercourse, either 
amicable or hostile, must continue between us. Is it possible then, to 
make that intercourse more ad\'antageous or more satisfactory after 
separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends 
can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between 
aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose we go to war, ice cau)iot 
fight always, and when after much loss on both sides, and no gai?i on either, 
we cease fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse 
are again upon us." 

"Happy day when — all appetites conlroiled, all jjoisons subdiKd. ail matters 
subjected — mind, all-conquering mind, shall li\e and nio\e, tin- monarch of tin- world. 
Glorious consummation." 

********* 

ilun I .say: Why not just as well be friends? And if we are going forever to live 
together, why not live also in a leal and happy international brotherhood? 

12 



All our troubles are due to a misunderstanding. Mexico has not been heard. 
Only the warring factions have been considered, with the pitiful result that the 
voice of fifteen millions of peaceful inhabitants has not reached the United States 
nor the outside world. Mexico deserves a universal audience in order that her 
rights may be set forth and established and her claims made known and satisfied. 
The people of the United States have heard of Huerta, Villa, Zapata, Carranza — 
only of leaders — always of men — and have summed up and focussed in those men 
and names and in their quarrels or mistakes the whole Mexican situation. But the 
good, candid and generous people of America have not heard of the fundamental 
problems, of the paramount causes, of the unknown and unsolved real, dreadful, 
tragical postulates which deal with the soil, the life, the racial, the historical, the 
religious, the economic, the social and the political conditions that prevail in my 
country, nor has there been presented to them any reasonable, intelligent, solid con- 
structive plan to help Mexico, and save her from total destruction; restore law; 
order and prosperity and place her again among the civilized nations. 

It is therefore desirable, and not only desirable but necessary, that one of us 
loyal and true patriotic Mexicans, whose primary duty it is to set our country right, 
should start a campaign of education and enlightenment, not only because relief to 
those who sufifer is the duty of all men and the affairs of all nations, but because it 
will bring a better understanding between the two peoples, which is the key that 
will open the door to cordial and friendly relations. More so is this true when we 
consider that the United States is the best and the only friend that Mexico has, the 
only approachable, opulent, generous people that can help her, and when we con- 
sider that there are problems which Mexico needs to solve and will never solve with- 
out the help and assistance of the United States. 

If Mexico is going to be saved and redeemed, it must be by truth when the whole 
world knows the whole truth about Mexico, told by truthful men in thought, words 
deeds. Beware of the patriotic lie of the man who disregards or is afraid of the rest of 
the world, beware of the provident lie of friends hiding our vices for selfish mo- 
tives ; of the envious lie of our enemies, of the beautiful lies of agitators and dema- 
gogues, of partisans, fanatics and extremists, of the unconscious lies of the rabble 
and ignorant masses. Let the truth be scattered among those who have no interest 
in suppressing its growth nor evading its power; let there be planted the seeds of a 
new Mexico in the deep fertile soil of free America and let the waters of our cry, like 
the rains of Heaven, descend broadcast until the Big Nations' heart bleeds with love 
and sympathy for poor old dear Mexico, and peace will reign over the land like the 
waters cover the sea. Truth, once known, even planted in the midst of the most 
discouraging and forbidden surroundings, will neither decline nor die; it is immortal 
and invincible, and in the safe custody of the American people will live eternally. 
Truth, though it might hurt, needs no excuse to enlighten any more than the sun to 
shine, though it might burn. 

Therefore, I deem it an unavoidable necessity, a sacred duty, to reveal facts and 
conditions as they exist in Mexico, so that they may be changed for the better; I 
will take you through the labyrinths and quicksands of the interior politics, revo- 
lutions, governments and contra-revolutions until we arrive together at safe and definite 
conclusions. I know that to expose Mexico from the inside is cruel, but I say it is 
necessary. I do not do it like Nero for the devilish pleasure of seeing the entrails 

13 



of ilu- motherland wlurr 1 was liorii. Imt liki- tin- lu-fded Ca'sarian oinratioii tliai 
ga\f the ancient world its august ruler. 



Despoileil of our wealth, that we ean reeo\er; wounded in our pride, that we ean 
cure; but the deepest hurt, the one which can never he healetl. the one that the world 
will not stand for, is the outrageous forced subordination of the majority, the honest, 
the intelligent and best people to crime and anarchy at home and thi' isolation of Mex- 
ico anKjng the civilized nations abroad. Mexico needs Christianization, education, 
immigration, and a real true democratic constitutional government. 1 say real and 
true democracy because the men who unfortunately exercise today power in Mexico 
do not know or imderstand what democracy is. The>' want eijualit)' not in law. 
rights and chances but ec|uality of conditions, of wealth and health, of brains, morals 
and aims, they of course being the type and standard of life. According to their 
theory the level of intelligence must be ignorance, the level of activity must be par- 
alysis, the level of strength must be weakness, the level of property must be confis- 
cation, the level of morality must be crime, the level of finance must lie bankruptcy, 
the level of government must be anarchy and the suinr-man must be \'illa or Carranza, 
and I again say, the world will not tolerate it. .And it is only through a great, 
supreme international campaign of enlightenment that conditions may be im|)roved 
and bring Mexico to understand and to be understood. 



My pockets are empty of ])iil)lir niciiu\. ni\- hands are clean of human blood, 
my conscience is free of responsibility, and ni\ intellect clear of prejudice. I repre- 
sent no go\ernment, party, class, sect, faction, creed or color, but the people of 
Mexico. I am free from personal rivalries, political ambitions and sectional interest. 
I serve the motherland as a nation at home, and as an international State abroad. 
I ha\e given the morning of my life, my entire career, to the study of our vexed and 
arduous affairs — the national and international problems of Mexico — but of Mexico 
as a whole, as a country, as a Republic, and I will dexote the rest of m>- life to see 
that peace, justice and liberty may reign in Mexico. 

I speak without fear, remorse or contradiction. 1 shall \oice offense or error to 
no one. My lecture is an open forum. I respectfully invite and gladly submit to 
cjuestions and discussion from the audience and the press. I seek nothing but the sal- 
vation of Mexico. 

.Ambassador of Peace, in my lecture I haw a message of friendshijj to deli\er, 
an appeal to this great people of America. In behalf of my people I will respect- 
fully say that if there is anything that we look forward to with sacred hope, it is 
the day when in peace, harmony and concord among oursehes we can also deser\e 
and enjoy again the blessings of the good will, cordial relatif)ns and intelligent, 
effective and generous aid of the people of Anurica, nuiuiai aid. a real North Amer- 
ican .Alliance. 

It is your jiroblem, it is our problem. Let us discuss and agree in a feasible and 
human solution, one that will save blood, treasure and time, so la\ ishly wasted: 
one that will lead us to a permanent perfect lifi' under tiie rays of tin- sun and thi' 
kne of God. 

Emeterio 1)E l.\ ("i.\r?a, Jr. 

14 



" I wish that every thinking man and woman in the United States might have the 
benefit of his contribution to American understanding of our unhappy Southern 
neighbor." — Charles W. Ames, St. Paul, Minn. 



"He ought to be heard by all thinking iVmericans." — J. M. Cobb, Newark, N. J. 



*'He is fascinating, convincing, irrefutable. After hearing Sefior de la Garza, Jr.'s, 
masterpiece of revelation, treatment and cure, one cannot help but to say: 'Mexico 
can be saved.'" — William H. Smith, New York. 



15 



APPRECIATION 



Extracts from a few of hundreds of letters favorably 
commenting upon the lecture which has been praised 
by the leading newspapers and magazines of America. 




Webster Springs Hotel, 

Webster Springs. W.Vft. 

June IS'- to Sepi 15" 



Office or the Manager 



Grafton, W.Va., 




A 



h^ 



I9lia_ 






XuCUU. ^-n^-^-o-M O-iAAlinjLo cSLa ?<x Gi oaaxh. ~tUAt <jit-C»ooIt lUsg(».t,o njULa-A^e^^^ -oOj. 




*^-^-<«^^^~^^<y~. 



19 



SAINT PAUL INSTITUTE 
Board of Trustees, Executive Office 

V. R. Irvin May of St. Paul Chas. W. Ames 

Albert Wunderlich, Com. of Education Louis W. Hill 

D. Lange, Superintendent of Schools David C. Shepard, 2d. 

St. Paul, Minn. 

Of all the many lectures which have been given before the St. Paul Insti- 
tute, there has been none more interesting and profitable to the members than 
that which Sefior de la Garza, Jr. gave us last evening. His admirable statement of 
fundamental conditions, of the causes of discontent, and the sources and circumstances 
of the revolution, his statesmanlike analysis of international relations, were 
all most illuminating and convincing. His answers to our many questions 
were direct, positive, authoritative. Above all, his audience prized his 
evident fairness and freedom from partisanship. His lecture could be prop- 
erly described by the much-abused title "The Truth about Mexico." I wish 
that every thinking man and woman in the United States might have the 
benefit of his contribution to American understanding of the great problem 
beyond our Southern border — our own relations with our unhappy Southern 
neighbor. 

Charles W. Ames, 

President. 



MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 

Boston, Mass. 

As President of the Commercial Club of Boston, I had the pleasure of intro- 
ducing Seilor Emeterio de la Garza, Jr., who was the guest of the club last night. 
His address made a highly favorable impression. As an evidence of the interest 
that he aroused, I may say that when Sefior de la Garza, Jr., stopped, after 
speaking for an hour, the club called loudly for an extension, and kept on 
clamoring for more until midnight was reached. I do not know that any- 
thing similar has happened before in the history of the club. Sefior de la Garza, 
Jr., is a man of cultivation, with natural eloquence and a power of vivid de- 
scription. He has long been intimately associated with the larger afifairs of 
his country and is a serious student of the problems that confront it. He is 
certainly well worth hearing on a subject that must engross the attention of 
all who are seriously studying the problems of our international relations. 

Richard C. Maclaurin, 
President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

21 



COI.IM151\ IMXKkSlTV IX THE CITY OF Xl-.W \(>KK 

Extension Tkaching 
The Institute of Arts and Sciences 

\\\v \ork. N. V. 

It affords pleasure to state that Senor Enieterio de la Garza, Jr., lectured 
for us recently. His address was instructive, constructive, clear and states- 
manlike, without "jingoism" and objectionable elements of any nature. He 
held our audience closely until the very end, although there was no effort on 
his part to entertain. After the lecture, the audience was permitted to ask 
cjuestions. and his answers to the (|utsti(>iis wire liritf, direct and enlightening. 

The Institute of .Arts and Sciences, 

Mm. TON J. Davies. 



COLIMRIA rXIXERSlTV OF XE\\" ^■()RK 

Co1.I.E(;E of I'llAUMACY 

Xcw \ork, X. \'. 

On WednesdaN' of last week, Si'fior l-2nuteriu ck- la (iarza. Jr., a(i(li\>-((l ilie 
Wednesday Club of Xewark on Mexican affairs. I was scheduled to jiartici- 
pate in the discussion, I)ut was unfortunately called away. Upon my return, 
I made very careful inquiries as to Seiior Garza's statements, as a result of which 
/ am convinced that he is the prophet on this subject. Please understand that 
I have no interest whatever in him, but only in the subject. So far as I recall, 
I have never met him, nor have I corresponded with him, as I am wholly un- 
prejudiced. In fact, I anticipated being obliged to take issue with him in the 
discussion, expecting the usual mass of bombast of the Spanish-American. I 
have been hoping that I might myself have an opportunity of engaging public 
discussion on this subject and I should have taken practically the same ground 
that he has taken. In my opimo?i, there is no one thing that -would so tend to 
set this country right in its attitude towards, and treatment of, Mexico, as to 
have Senor Garza, Jr.'s views made generally kriown to our people. I doubt if we 
ever had a man at the Wednesday Club whose address took so strong a hold on 
the meeting as this one. You could not possibly make a mistake in gaining 
for Senor Garza, Jr., the widest possible hearing in the United States. 

H. H. Rlsby, 

Dean. 



22 



SAINT PAUL ASSOCIATIOxN OF COMMERCE 

St. Paul, Minn. 

There is in Saint Paul a man — Serior Emeterio de la Garza, Jr. — who has 
made a great impression here and in Minneapolis and whose appearance before 
our Association of Commerce and the Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Asso- 
ciation resulted in a small group of public-spirited men taking hold of Seiior 
de la Garza, Jr.'s, itinerary with the idea of having representative business 
audiences throughout the country hear him. 

No man appearing at our weekly open forum luncheons has made anything 
like the impression which the Seiior left with his audience. He spoke for an 
hour and a half to our members and they would have heard him further had 
he been willing to go on. The Serior spoke for two hours to the Minneapolis 
Civic and Commerce Association members and at the end of his address mem- 
bers of his audience besieged him with requests for further information. The 
Seiior also has appeared before a number of clubs in the Twin Cities and each 
time has made a striking impression. 

Personally I consider him a rare attraction for any audience. 

E. M. McMahon, General Secretary. 



SAINT PAUL ASSOCIATION OF COMMERCE 

St. Paul, Minn. 
The Mexican Situation 

Close to five hundred members of the association, at the Wednesday Forum 
Luncheon, at the Hotel Saint Paul, heard Hon. Emeterio de la Garza, Jr., former 
member of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, discuss the topic: "What is 
Wrong with Mexico?" 

No speaker at the series of Wednesday Luncheon Talks has interested his 
audience more than did Serior de la Garza, Jr. 

President Dittenhofer extended the time limit for speaking to permit an 
hour and one-half's exposition of the absorbing theme so intelligently and so 
dramatically presented by the distinguished Mexican. In doing so, President 
Dittenhofer announced that diners might leave the Palm Room at any time 
during the progress of the address without offense to the speaker. But the 
majority of the members elected to remain throughout Senor de la Garza, Jr.'s, 
discussion. 

It was a strong tribute to the interest in the Mexican theme and particularly 
to the man who spoke. Serior de la Garza, Jr., was brought to the city by the 
Saint Paul Institute and addressed a large audience at the Church Club, Tues- 
day night. This first appearance made such an excellent impression, that the 
attendance at Wednesday's luncheon swept beyond all advance arrangements. 

There were two hundred and sixty-seven acceptances to the luncheon. 
Within a short time after the doors to the Palm Room were opened, more than 
three hundred men had taken seats. It was necessary for something over one 
hundred members to lunch in the Grand Cafe and return to the Palm Room 
for the speaking. 

Harrison Hatton. 

23 



MIWi; Al'olls I I\|C \ COMMERCE ASSOCIAIloX 

A. M. Slulddii, President 
Karl 1)( l.aittrf. Senior Vice-Pres. \\ . S. Dwinnell, Vice-Pres., C'w'xi: i)\\ . 

J. S. I'illsbiiry, Second Vice-Pres. Htnry Doerr, Treasurer. 

H. M. C.ardiUT, r/a'-Prci-., Industrial L)i\. Howard Strong, Secretary. 

.Miniic.i|)iili>. Minn. 

Office of the President 

In behalf of the members of the Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Associa- 
tion, let me thank Seiior de la Garza. Jr. for the splendid talk which he gave be- 
fore us at our meeting, November 29. The appreciation of his address was shown 
by the fact that practically the whole audience of busy business men remained 
long after their usual lunch hour to htar him com[)!(tc his presentation of liiis 
most interesting subject. 

We are sending, under separate cover, copies ol the \\cdnisda\ afurnoon 
papers containing accounts of his address. 

A. M. Sill 1 iniN. I'ri-sidc-nt. 



St. I'aul. Minn. 

Durinu Sefior di' la C.arza. Jr.'s recent \isit to this locality it was my pleasure to 
hear him in St. I^aul and in Minneapolis; and, also, I lia\f talked with a great many 
people who have heard him on two other occasions here w hen I was not present. The 
consequence is, I am able to speak not only for myself, but to voice the con- 
census of opinion here as to his venture into the lecture field. To sum it up 
in a few words, it is the general opinion, and mine, that he has a very inter- 
esting and timely story to tell, and he speaks ex cathedra and in a most stirring 
and attractive manner. His amazingly fluent use of our Ent;lisli language 
was not the least interesting feature of his talks. 

Ch.XRLES W. 1-AKMlAM. 



Mininapoli.^, Minn. 

Mexico and those wlio ha\c \.\\v interest of Mexico at iieart can congratu- 
late themselves in having a man of Sefior de la Garza, Jr.'s abilities travel throughout 
the L'nited States and deliver such "heart to heart" talks as he yesterday gave to the 
members of the Civic and Commerce Association at their fortnightly com- 
bined meeting and noon-day luncheon at the Hotel Dyckman of this city. 

I have heard so many satisfactory and highK r(inii>limcniar\ expressions of 
his good self and the subject he so masterh handled that I .1111 cpiite de- 
lighted in having the [jleasiire and honor of his long acquaintance and friend- 
ship. 

If I can serve him in any wa\ during his sojourn in this i)art of the coun- 
try, he is at liberty to command nie. 

JOSKI'II TlTICUR. 

24 



KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS 

Hennepin-Minneapolis Council 

Minneapolis, Minn. 

"May I wish for you in your approaching campaign of education the great- 
est success and I am conveying to you on behalf of The Hennepin-Minneapolis 
Council our warmest congratulations and appreciation of your splendid talk 
given before the club members and friends last Tuesday evening." 

D. M. Ryan. 

COLLEGE OF ST. THOMAS 

St. Paul, Minn. 

"With regard to Sen or de la Garza, Jr.'s, visit to this college, it gives me 
much pleasure to say that he delivered a very informing and illuminating lec- 
ture on the course of events in Mexico during the past six years. He held the 
attention of the student body for over an hour and a half, analyzing, in a brief 
but masterly fashion, the causes which underlie the Mexican situation, and 
finishing with a vivid description of the events that culminated in the over- 
throw of Madero. This latter portion of his lecture had all the interest which 
only a tragic story can have when told by an eye witness." 

H. MoYNiHEM, President. 

KIWANIS CLUB OF CLEVELAND 

Cleveland, Ohio 

On behalf of the Kiwanis Club of Cleveland I wish to thank Sefior de la Garza, Jr. 
for that most enlightening address on "Problems of Mexico" that he delivered before 
our club in such a clear, concise and perfectly frank manner. It was by far the 
best address on Mexico that has been delivered before our club. 

Trusting that we may have the pleasure of hearing him soon again, 

O. K. DORN, President. 

THE CLEVELAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

Cleveland, Ohio 

I feel constrained to tell you how much we all enjoyed Seilor de la Garza, 
Jr.'s, address here, how grateful we are to you and others for suggesting his 
name to us, and how clearly and forcefully, and at times eloquently, the cause 
of Mexico was presented. 

It is our custom to adjourn our meetings at 1.30 o'clock promptly. By a 
practically unanimous demand of his audience, Sefior de la Garza, Jr., continued 
to talk until 2.15. At the end of that time he insisted that the meeting should 
adjourn, since he had occupied so much more time than is our custom. From 
2.15 until nearly 4 o'clock, a group of nearly one hundred men gathered around 
Sefior de la Garza, Jr., in our library, asking questions and listening to his further 
exposition of his plan for the reorganization and enlightenment of his country. 

In short, the event was a distinct success, and we are all very happy about it. 

MuNSON Havens, Secretary. 

25 



TWICN 1 II' I II I l.\ 11 UN CI.I i; ol <1. i:\KI. AN I) 

( "IcMland, (Jliio 

As i'rc'siclfiit ot ilii- I uriiiiiih (\-iUiir\ (lul) dI ('li-\ eland. I take this pleas- 
ure in saying that the address delivered before the cluli in this city, on Wednes- 
day evening last, on Mexico, was interesting and informing to an unusual 
degree. 1 believe that those who listened to this address will continue to feel 
that they know more about real conditions in Mexico and ha\e a more intel- 
ligent notion of the Mexican problem as now presented than they have here- 
tofore had. / am sure that if SeTior de la Garza, Jr., continued to work along 
the lines which he has laid down, the result will be that many people in this 
country will be more intelligently informed in regard to Mexico than they can 
be from any other source that I am in touch with. It is evident that the 
Mexican problem today is one in regard to which even the intelligent students 
of political economic questions in this country are at sea. We are anxious to 
be convinced that a war with Mexico would be a great misfortune as well as a 
great mistake, but we are above all, anxious to know what the United States 
can do for Mexico with a view to eventually assisting her to rise above the 
terrible misfortunes which have befallen her and the grave difficulties that are 
now presented to her. I feel that this commendation of Serior de la Garza, Jr., 
and this endorsement of his address to our clul) will, jyerhaps, be useful to you 
and helpful to him. 11. P. Ei£LLS, President. 



UNIVERSITY CLUB, L.VWRKXCE, KANSAS 

Lawrence, Kansas 

I am pleased to state that Scfior de la Garza, Jr., gave a lecture at the 
University here, which commanded the interest of every one who heard it. 
In the evening we gave an informal smoker in his honor at the University 
Club which was attended by about sixty men. They were all captivated by 
him so much that it was after twelve before the last ones left for home. Sefior 
de la Garza, Jr., gave us a doli.c;htful talk and sjient the rest of the evening 
answering questions in his (l(lii.;litiul nianrur. \\\- would all br i)leased to 
hax'e him return tn us. 

John X. \'.\n dku X'kiks. 
Chairman ICntertainnieiit ( "unimitree. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF K.WS.XS 
University Extension Division, Lawrence, Kansas 

Office of the Director. 
Referring to the address of Sefior de la Garza, Jr., everyone was delighted 
with his presentation of the subject, and was especially glad to get a rtrst-hand 
account from an authoritative source of the conditions in Mexico. In that 
connection let me say that in addition to his address before the L^niversity, 
we had him sjjeak to the mend^ers of the University Club on F"riday evening. 
There was a full attendance and ever\- one liked him \ery much. 

F. R. IIamii.ton. Director. 

26 



THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 



Lawrence, Kansas 



History and Political Science 
Frank Heywood Hofder Blaine Free Moore Clarence A. Dykastra 

David Leslie Patterson William Watson Davis Clarence C. Crawford 

Frank Edgar Melvin 

It was a great pleasure to hear Seiior de la Garza, Jr. and we envy the people of 
Minnesota the opportunity they have to hear him so completely on that most absorb- 
ing of topics, Mexico. Everybody wants him to come back to Lawrence to 
lecture again on the same subject. His talk at the University Club on "The 
Ten-Day Tragedy in Mexico City" has been commented on again and again 
as one of the finest and most interesting things ever heard there. 

David L. Patterson, 

President. 

KANSAS STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 
Thos. W. Butcher, President 

Emporia, Kansas 

"Senor Emeterio de la Garza, Jr., appeared before our students two or three 
weeks ago and gave one of the best addresses we have had in years. He held 
an audience of thirteen hundred people, one thousand of whom stood during 
the whole time, for an hour and a half. He speaks fluently and his English is 
unusually good." 

Thos. W. Butcher, 

President. 

KNIFE AND FORK CLUB 

Kansas City, Kansas 

Seiior Emeterio de la Garza, Jr., was our guest about a year ago. He made 
a very favorable impression while here and showed a thorough knowledge of 
the Mexican situation. He is a very good speaker, speaking English very well, 
and am sure all would be pleased with him. 

Fred N. Tufts, 

Secretary. 

POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE OF KANSAS CITY 

Kansas City, Kansas 

"I take the liberty of addressing you in order to express my appreciation 
of Sefior Emeterio de la Garza, Jr., who visited the city recently. Sefior de la 
Garza, Jr., spoke before the Knife and Fork Club, and the press praised his 
address very highly. The next day he was kind enough to address the student 
body of this institution, and his rare command of English, his interesting per- 
sonality and magnetic presence held the audience of i,ooo students spellbound. 
I take pleasure in expressing my high regard for Sefior de la Garza, Jr., and for 
the work he is doing." 

Gabriel Madrid Hernandez. 

27 



rnK cMxi^Ksri ^• oi- pe.\xs\iaa.\i.\ 

I'liiladL-lphia, I'a. 

\\iKRiCAN Academy of Political and Social Scienxe 
"1 luiil ilie pleasure of sitting on the same platform with Dr. de la Garza, 
Jr., a few weeks ago before the Outlook Club of Montdair. X. J., on which occa- 
sion he made an excellent impression. He has a fluent command of English, 
is eloquent in manner, and the substance of his lecture threw a new light on 
the Mexican situation for those who were present. .After his lecture I heard 
very generous comments of satisfaction and approval." 

L. S. Rowi;. I'n-sident. 

OUTLOOK CLUB OF MOXICLAI R. X. J. 

.Mniitclair, .\. J. 
"It occurs to me to write you concerning our last meeting of the Outlook 
Cliil). The subject of the meeting was the Mexican problem, and the two 
speakers were Hon. Emeterio de la Garza, Jr., of Mexico, and Dr. L. S. Rowe, 
of the University of Pennsylvania. Senor de la Garza, Jr., was recommended to 
me by Hon. John Barrett, head of the Pan-.American L'nion, as one of the best- 
posted men on Mexico, and his address before us fully justified Mr. Barrett's 
recommendation. Sciior de la Garza, Jr., has published considerable matter in 
the papers regarding his position with reference to the Mexican situation and 
wants to undertake public addresses in various parts of the United States before 
clubs, commercial bodies, etc. Seiior de la Garza, Jr., is a man of great promi- 
nence in Mexico, a forceful and interesting speaker and has the most important 
message regarding Mexico of any speaker I have ever heard." 

Charles Whiti.nh; Baki;r. PrL'sidiMU. 

SOCIETE DES BEAUX ARTS 

Xlw \'oik Cii\. X. \'. 
I wish to express to you the pleasure that the Hon. Emeterio de la (jarza, Jr., 
ga\e lo me and the members of the Societe Des Beaux .Arts with his splendid 
and comprehensive talk on Me.xico at the last meeting of my organization. 
As president of several clubs in this country and France, and in turn a lecturer 
of experience before many societies and educational institutions all over the 
country, I feel quite safe in saying that Seiior de la Garza, Jr.'s work on the plat- 
form cannot fail to interest all who are seeking the truth about the conditions 
existing in Mexico today. Mme. Marie Cross X'Ewhals, President. 

Xew A'ork Cit\-, X. ^'. 
"1 takt- great pleasure in iironoiinciny Sc'tior dr la < iarza, Jr., one of the 
most intelligent and astute thinkers of Mexico, besides being extraordinarily 
well ecpiiiJiu'd as to its historical, political and social questions. Sefior de la 
Garza, Jr., is a most resourceful and interesting speaker, in fact, I know of no 
one I would rather hear discuss Mexico, as it would be impossible to hear Seiior 
de la Garza, Jr., and not come away with a clearer knowledge of the Mexican 
situation and with much new food for serious thought." 

James IIarih d Warm;u 

28 



New York City, N. Y. 

"It may be a little egotistical in me to make this statement, but I do it for 
the reason that, having an intimate knowledge of the Mexican people — their 
temperamental peculiarities — their point of view, political and social, etc., all 
of which are so strongly opposed to ours, that / jeel that the people of this 
country who are fortunate enough to hear Senor de la Garza, Jr.'s, lecture will 
have an entirely different opinion of the situation in that desolate country. 
Personally, I believe Sefior de la Garza, Jr., is one of the few absolutely honest, 
disinterested Mexicans in that republic, and I feel quite sure from my knowl- 
edge of the man and the work that he has been doing for several years, that 
he is actuated solely by the love of his people and from the loftiest patriotic 
motives — two qualities that would add force to anything he may have to say." 

L. C. Tetard, Banker. 



Washington, D. C. 

"Seiior Emeterio de la Garza, Jr.'s, story of the ten-day tragedy in Mexico 
is one of the most thrilling I have ever heard and when he told it to my wife and 
I, I said to him that if he could go on the platform and tell the story to an 
audience as he told it to us, I believe that his speech would almost make a 
sensation and would certainly be full of thrilling interest. 

"I have had a little experience in public lecturing and I think I know some- 
thing of the public taste and therefore I feel that I am indulging in no empty 
phrase when I say that I congratulate you on having the opportunity of put- 
ting Senor de la Garza, Jr., before the public. I can imagine nothing that would 
be more interesting to the people of the North and East." 

James L. Slayden, Congressman from Texas. 



New York City, N. Y. 

"As one of the executive committee of the Round Table, I wish to tell you 
of our deep appreciation of your recent address at Teachers' College. It is 
very seldom that I have seen an audience so completely en rapport with the 
speaker, and its responsiveness must have been very manifest to you. So 
clearly and forcefully did you present the fundamental conditions underlying 
the whole Mexican situation, and so evident was the sincerity and purity of 
motive detached from all partisanship or factionalism, that the whole assem- 
blage seemed imbued with the idea. ' Here at last is the truth about our dis- 
tressed Southern neighbor. What can we do to help her? To whom in Mexico 
can we look for cooperation in her redemption?' That was the uppermost 
idea. ' What can we do and how, and with whom, shall we do it? ' You doubt- 
less have long since discovered, if you did not primarily realize it, that there 
is no feeling of antagonism toward the Mexican people. It is not even passive. 
It is actively and positively kindly and friendly, ready to serve when and 
where it may." 

Charles Edey Fay 

29 



New York City, N.Y. 

"In bi-hall of the officers and melnl»^^^ ul ilic Rouml Table, I beg to express 
to you our sincere thanks for \'our kindness in addressing our recent meeting. 
The picture of Mexican life, conditions and needs which you so \i\idly drew, 
and the appeal for the friendship of the people of the I'nited States, for which 
you so eloquently pleaded, made a [jrofound impression upon all >()ur hearers, 
and 1 am sure must result in some goml Id the cause you represent." 

ril().M.\S \'. (".KEliNE 



INIOX rilKOl.OC.UAL SEMi.\.\R\' 

New \'()rk Cilx, N. \". 

"I have just returned to my room after hearing your most interesting and 
enlightening presentation of the Mexican question, and I wish to take this 
first opportunity to express to you my sympath\- and appreciation. I was the 
young man who spoke to you after the talk down front near the plaiform, just 
after tlie other man proposed to put you in touch with The Outlook people. 
And it was 1 who spoke in Spanish to express to you sincerely my sympathy 
for Mexico and desire t(j lul|> iur in \'ears to come." 

Leowitt C). Wkk.iit. 



THE WEDNESDAY CLUB, NKW ARK, X. J. 

Newark, N. J. 

Our men were greatly pleased with Seiior de la Garza, Jr., last evening. He 
surely knows what he is talking about. Tlie hour following the main address 
was especially interesting, for it was sjxnt in replies by the Seiior to a volley 
of ([uestions. He ought to be heard b\- all ihinkiiii; .\niiTicans. 

J. .M. ("OHH, 

Secretary. 



LNIXERSITY CLl'H OF HUIDOKPORT 

iiriilueport. Conn. 

"Senor Emeterio de la Garza, Jr., deli\ered a lecture entitled 'What is Wrong 
with Mexico?' before the University Club of this city on the evening of October 
19. Other lectures have been heard in Bridgeport upon the various phases of 
the Mexican difficulty, but both the point of view of Seiior de la Garza, Jr., 
and his proposed remedy for the existing abuses were entirely novel to us. It 
was impossible to listen to him without appreciating his complete mastery of 
the subject and his profound sincerity. The evening proxc-d \\n\ only thor- 
oughly instructive but also very delightful." 

S.VMVEL K. l'>i:.\KI)SLEV, 

IVcsidcnt. 

30 



UNIVERSITY CLUB 

Pittsburgh, Pa. 

"I wish to thank you again in the name of our club for the very beneficial 
and interesting lecture you gave. I have never seen our members more inter- 
ested in any talk at the club, and I am sure they all enjoyed it as much as I 
did personally. I will be very glad indeed to hear from you from time to time 
and will be much interested in the progress you make in explaining the prob- 
lem of your country to our people." 

John R. Chislett, 
Chairman Entertainment Committee. 



Pittsburgh, Pa. 

"Everyone who was fortunate enough to hear your lecture last Saturday evening seems 
to be very much impressed, and I have heard a great many men, who were not there, 
express regret at being unable to be present. Your talk did more for the cause of 
Mexico than any amount of newspaper publicity could possibly do because of the fact 
that it was absolutely free from factionalism and the impression created was that you 
spoke only for the good of your country. 

A. B. Berger 



UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 
Grand Boulevard 



Pittsburgh, Pa. 



"We recall with very great pleasure Senor de la Garza, Jr.'s visit to the University 
and trust that the way may be clear for his return some time in the future." 

S. B. LiNHART, 

Secretary. 



CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 
Schenley Park 

Pittsburgh, Pa. 

"Seiior de la Garza, Jr. spoke before the assembly of the school of Applied Indus- 
tries, Carnegie Institute of Technology, in March, 1917. I can say unhesitatingly 
that no address ever given before this student body met with such spontaneous and 
hearty approval. The result was that he was invited to speak a second time. The 
second assembly was held after school hours, at perhaps the most unlikely hour of the 
week, but the attendance was even larger, and for almost one hour and a half he 
held the students spell-bound with this story of "What is Wrong with Mexico?." 

Sefior de la Garza, Jr. is a forceful speaker and certainly stirs his audience by the 
surprising array of facts about the much misunderstood Mexico, as well as by the 
real eloquence of his delivery. Clifford B. Connelley, 

Dean of the School of Applied Industries, Carnegie Institute of Technology. 

31 



riii: PROGRESS socii:i\' of the rockawavs 

Far Rockaway, Xcw \ ork C'it\ 

"I am pleased to say that Sefior Einelerio ile la (iarza, Jr.'s, lecture before 
this society last Xovemher was in every way accejitaJjle. He impressed his 
audience with his sincerity, held them by a coherent exposition of his facts, 
interested them to a lively discussion following his disc()urse and left them with 
a clearer understanding of Mexico's proijlems and our relations thereto." 

J. LAlCHlilMER, 

President. 

THE ha\i>i.i;n' i.ii;k\K\' 

Winchester, \'a. 

"Sefior de la (.arza, Jr.. dcli\ ered his leciiire, "W'luit is Wrong with Mexico?" 
in Winchester and made a very favorable impression on an audience of more 
than 500 people. He is a brilliant man and thoroughly knows his subject and 
presents original ideas. Vou will find that he modifies his personal opinions, 
that his public utterances may not have a political significance. He gives his 
audiences ample opportunity, howe\er. to ask any questions that they wish." 

C. Vernon Eddy, 

Librarian. 

BIFF'ALO rU'B 

Buftal.., X. W 
"Senor Emeterio de la Garza, Jr., in liis recent lecture at our cltil) was very 
well received indeed by our membLTs, who were impressed witli his sincerity, 
and consider lliat lie lold liis storN' of Mexico in a most interesting manner." 

J. H. McXci.TV, 
Chairman EntiTtaiiinunt Gommittee. 



WOMAN'S CLVH 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa 
"We were \er\' nuicli pleased wiili the addri'ss gi\en by Seiior de la Garza 
Jr., and c(jnsider him a forceful speaker." 

Mrs. R. K. S.\hth, 

Corresponding Sccretar\-. 



.New \ork Cily, X. \'. 
Sefior de la Garza, Jr.'s, patriotic efforts to save Mexico, his views and plans 
for the pacification and prosperity of the distracted country, have produced a 
striking sensation in the United States and obtained unparalleled wonderful 
success. He has the unanimous endorsement of all those who are fortunate enough 
to hear him. He is fascinating, convincing, irrefutable. .After hearing Sefior de 
la Garza, Jr.'s, masterpiece of revelation, treatment and cure, one cannot help 
but to say: "Mexico can be saved." 

WiLi.i.\M S. Smith 

32 



New York City, N. Y. 

"I am very pleased to learn that my friend, Emeterio de la Garza, Jr. is going to 
take the platform and is going to give the public the advantage of his thorough knowl- 
edge of Mexican affairs acquired by many years of official experience in governmental 
matters. The interest which he has in Mexico, his devotion to its welfare, and the close 
personal relation in which he has stood to the now prominent personages of the country 
is certain to render his message both attractive and instructive. 

Dr. C. H. Parkhurst 



New York City, N. Y. 

" I was fortunate to participate in your discussion on "Ways and Means of the Mex- 
ican Situation," and, putting it mildly, I not only enjoyed your outlined proposition, 
but fully agree with your sentiments. I feel that I ought to give expression to show 
you my appreciation, and the profound respect I have for you. 

"Would it be asking too much to grant me an interview, at any time convenient 
to yourself? I will feel obligated by your granting me such request, if you will kindly 
state time and place of rendezvous. S. H. Perley 



Los Angeles, Cal. 

"Seiior Emeterio de la Garza, Jr., is a man who, by reason of his natural 
qualities, his associations with and knowledge of his people of all classes, and 
his clear recognition of their needs and wishes, unalloyed by prejudice of any 
sort, is best fitted to his work. 

"I am intimately acquainted with all of Mexico at end North of Mexico 
City. I have traveled over it afoot, on mule back, by wagon and train. I have 
enjoyed the hospitality of hut and palace and among all I have met, in what- 
ever walk of life, Seiior de la Garza, Jr., is best qualified to tell the story. 

"Before and above all, Sefior de la Garza, Jr., is a true patriot, a lover of 
his country, devoted to her language, her customs, her service and her fate. 

"I have seen the best of Mexico assembled around Seiior de la Garza Jr.'s, 
table where he was easily the admired leader, the observant and tactful host, 
the brilliant and witty conversationalist. Many an after-dinner cigar we have 
enjoyed on the roof of his palace, in the days when Mexican gentlemen occupied 
their palaces, while he discoursed at length on the future of his country, the 
needs, ideals and aspirations of her people and the sources whence they might 
be met. 

"I have always looked upon Seiior de la Garza, Jr., and I do now, as the 
one man who shall ultimately lead his people to their rightful, 'place in the sun.'" 

W. W. Allen 

33 



Abcliiif, Texas. 

"1 have personally known Sefior de la Garza, Jr., for about thirty years, 
both in and out of Mexico, and have had business and social relations with 
him, and know his father and his mother. No man has higher ideals than 
Serior de la Garza, Jr. He is both just and generous, and he knows how to 
dispense these virtues. He is an American through and through, educated in 
the schools of Mexico City, and a post-graduate of Cornell I'niversity of New 
York. He understands the Roman and ci\il law, the common law of England 
and as interpreted by our courts; also our ( i\il and criminal code of procedure. 
I never met a man better equipped for all the affairs of life than Sefior de la 
Garza, Jr. He has a vast amount of energy and push, a man of strong purposes 
and convictions. He is the man for president of that I^epublic, because he is 
of the people, and will be elected by the people to that position if they ever 
have the opportunity, and I am sure will serve them and bring their country 
out of chaos and ruin into order and peace, prosperity and harmony. He be- 
longs to that school of politics that trace their priii(i|)ks and policy back to 
Benito Juarez, with whom his father served." 

MoKkis R. Lu( K 



THE TWENTIETH CENTim' CI. IB OF CLEVELAND 

Cleveland, Ohio. 

It is wiili real enthusiasm tliat I sit clown to writ i- you tlial Senor de la Garza, Jr. 
more than fulltiled your predictions regarding him, at our meeting of the Twentieth 
Centurj' Club, Wednesday evening. 1 believe it is no exaggeration to say that we 
have never had a more interesting address by any speaker during the si.x years of 
our existence as a club, and surely none other where the honesty of purpose and 
earnestness of conviction were so apparent, as they were in Senor de la Garza, Jr.'s 
most eloquent speech. He should be heard in even,- large city of this countr>- in 
the next five months and I hope steps will be at once taken to bring him back to 
Cleveland to speak before a larger assemblage. 

M.\RTHA B. Sanders, 

Secretary 



34 



Sefior de la Garza, Jr., apologizes to those of his friends 
whose letters of commendation, though fully appreciated, 
are not published by reason of time and space. 



35 



FROM THE NEW YORK SUN 
MARCH 15, 1914 



NATIONAL UNION TO RECONCILE WARRING 
FACTIONS IN MEXICO 

By Emeterio de la Garza, Jr. 



TO calm the political upheaval which now 
disturbs the Mexican nation and to avoid 
those that will come hereafter, more and 
more frequently and with increasing intensity un- 
less we now suppress the internecine war which 
is consuming the country, it will be necessary to 
take immediate action lest by delay we provoke 
a foreign war which will put an end to the inde- 
pendence of the republic. 

Having lived in political intimacy with the last 
four presidents of Mexico, namely. Gen. Diaz, 
Licenciado de la Barra, Senor Madero and Gen. 
Huerta, which placed me in a position to gain a 
perfect knowledge of the working of their re- 
spective governments and to come into intimate 
contact with the public men of my country, I 
have been able to penetrate deeply into the causes 
which have brought about the present conditions. 
I have seen the genesis of our misfortunes, the 
beginnings of the revolutions which have over- 
turned one administration after another. 

We Mexicans are presenting a sad picture to 
the world; one which gives the impression that 
there can be no union among us, that we have no 
patriotism, that we have lost all sense of reason 
and dignity and that we will also lose our national 
integrity inasmuch as our people are either totally 
indifferent to our misfortunes or are extremists to 
an extent bordering on insanity. There are even 
some who desire and even advocate the interven- 
tion of the United States in our internal affairs, 
regardless of the inevitable result of such inter- 
ference. 

Throughout there has not been one Mexican 
who heretofore has raised his voice in defence of 
Mexico as a nation, upholding the rights of our 
coimtry. I take this occasion to sever my con- 
nection with friend and foe, to break the chain of 
personal attachment within which life enmeshes 
us as in a net and which, in the name of friend- 
ship, of loyalty, gratitude, respect and other beau- 
tiful Latin attributes, has debarred me from ful- 
filling my duties as a citizen as intensely and com- 
pletely as I could have wished. 

Thus determined I declined the appointment 
of Consul-General of Mexico to Paris, which was 
bestowed upon me by the autograph letter of 
President Huerta, which I now have. Likewise I 
declined to occupy a seat as a member of the new 
Chamber of Deputies to which I was elected and 
insistently and urgently called upon to fill by re- 



peated telegrams from President Huerta himself , 
because I desired to be free, for the first time in 
my life, to perform the duties to my country as 
I understood them. 

According to Napoleon it cost Hannibal one- 
half of his army, 36,000 men, to cross the Alps 
and to gain the privilege of selecting the battle- 
field which should be propitious to the fulfillment 
of his great destiny. I have lost the half of my 
life bowing to the prejudices dominant in Mexico, 
which are harder to break through than the adam- 
antine rocks of the Alps and loftier than their 
summits, in order to reach this battlefield where 
the independence and integrity of my country 
shall be the vital question, and where I shall be 
free to present the case in its proper light and to 
fight for the national life, honor and liberty. 

Between the Government, with its partisans 
and friends, which rules the major portion of the 
republic, and the revolution, with its partisans 
and friends, which rules several of the northern 
States, a solid wall of prejudice and hatred has 
been built up, dividing the country and the Mexi- 
can people upon the basis of old personal differ- 
ences of race and education which no power can 
avoid nor wisdom shun. 

This wall is based upon the hatred of parties 
and upon political passions, always inconstant 
and short lived, and to the destruction of it all 
of us should contribute. It has been strengthened 
by an obstinate and unwavering intolerance al- 
ways exerted in wrong directions ; an intolerance 
which presumes everything, asserts everything 
and passes judgment upon all. On each side of 
this wall the so-called Huertistas and Carran- 
zistas have raised their flags with the well-known 
and deceitful motto of all our political struggles: 
"Legality," "Constitution" and "Liberty." 

The members of each party assume that disin- 
terestedness, self-denial, courage and victory re- 
side solely upon that side of the wall from which 
they speak ; according to their point of view their 
opponents cannot be otherwise than banditti, 
criminals and traitors, and as such evildoers 
breathing selfishness, cowardice, dishonor and 
ruin to the country. 

All that happens on one side of the wall only 
draws from the other a shower of insults and im- 
precations, though the shouters may be doing the 
same things, or worse, on their own side. The 
astounding facilitv with which either of these 



39 



parties declares its opponents as assassins, traitors 
and cowards and condemns them to death can 
only be compared to the unconscious fur>' of the 
elements of nature. 

Both Government and revolution have gone 
mad; whether l)y nJHht or day they commit acts 
of violence and allow themselves excesses which 
result in panic. They have lost the social respect, 
they have lost all dignity and rendered them- 
selves unable to govern Alexico. 

After all Gen. Huerlu can be nothing more than 
the provisional Presiilent, who shall finally call 
the people to hold elections: Senor Carranza or 
any one else cannot be more than the temjiorar)' 
President, who shall convene the peojile and hold 
elections. Neither the chiefs nor the leaders of 
either of the two warring factions will go\ern the 
country in the future; none of them should do 
so unless it be in accordance with the legal re- 
quirements and precepts of the Constitution of 
the republic. Men who reckon their brave decfls 
by the nuniber of their t)rethren they have killed, 
who reckon their wealth by the nuniber of fami- 
lies ruined, who reckon their glories by the num- 
ber of defenceless and innocent persons butchered, 
cannot govern a people, because crime never was 
a reason for promotion to the Presidency. It only 
deserves the scalTold. 

We must rescue Mexico from the bloody hands 
which ensanguine all within iheir reach; we must 
free the republic so that it shall not fall again 
into the slavery of vice and ignorance. 

We cannot longer endure a sectarian and ex- 
tremest go\ernment as it is understood and ])rac- 
tised by the fanatic, whether he be religionist, 
politician or militarist; neither can we tolerate 
one organized after the savage democracy of the 
unrestrained Maderista or the dominance of the 
all-powerful Diaz. 

Since the independence of Mexico, she has been 
ruled by two Emperors and many Presidents, but 
of them all only three Governments can be i)roi)- 
erly named as such, because they really governed, 
til wit: the glorious government of Juarez, the 
lawful one of Lerdo and the omnipotent one of 
Diaz. It is high time for us to organize a national 
government, following the orderly, jihilosophical 
and political course of civilization and humanity. 

How shall such a government be organized? It 
shall be organized by itself, by the necessity for 
peace, by the horror of war, by the loss of blood, 
life and money which cannot longer be endured. 
By the cruelty and excess influlged in by the 
lighting factions, by the universal aspiration and 
desire that peace shall be reestablished; this gov- 
ernment shall be organized by public opinion 
which willingly or unwillingly will restore us to 
reason and the observance of law. This govern- 



ment shall be organized, in hne, by the National 
Union. 

The remedy to our situation, let me repeat, will 
be found in organizing a government which shall 
not represent exclusively one or another of the 
political factions; a government which shall not 
become a tool of re\'enge and chastisement in the 
hands of a victorious faction bound to annihilate 
its opponent. I earnestly believe in a po|)ular, 
legitimate and national government, the resultant 
of an amalgamation of all enteqjrising agencies. 
of all healthy elements, of all social classes, con- 
verging into and forming a union of all the mem- 
bers and all the activities of the Mexican nation. 

To our shame be it said that Mexico is today 
the only country in the world which is torn by 
the horrors of civil war. The pacification of the 
republic cannot be accomplished at the cannon's 
niouth; it can never be achieved by stern military 
measures whose end is death. Such measures 
must be accompanied by those of a political and 
social character tending toward conciliation and 
jjrogress. 

To restore peace in Mexico we must tirst solve 
the financial problem, not with limited, extraor- 
dinary measures in whose train disastrous conse- 
quences follow, but with ])lentiful and far-seeing 
methods which, while relieving the stringency, 
provide a safe margin and alTord time to save the 
country for the discharge of its obligations. 

We must solve the agrarian problem, allotting 
lands to the Indians whose sole ambition and 
supreme hap[iiness in life is to reach the state of 
small land owners, unable as they are to succeed 
in any other field. To be a small lanfl owner is, 
in their belief, to attain the greatest well being. 
This agrarian reform should be accomplished, not 
by despoiling the large owner of his |)roperty, 
but by full recognition of his rights and compen- 
sation therefor. 

It is necessary to solve the labor problem and 
the wage problem, which are one. We must 
recognize that the peon who has been leading the 
easy life of a soldier will not return to the old 
system of peonage and slavery, yoked to his task 
by a wage of from thirty to fifty centavos a day. 
We must olTer them a higher standard of life, 
belter oi^portunily for progress, the treatment and 
consideration of human beings; othenvise they 
will remain bandits forever. 

It is necessary to solve the political problem 
through the enactment of laws and the establish- 
ment of reforms which shall suit the jjresenl con- 
dition of the people and lead them to belter 
things; reforms which shall draw the people to 
the supjiort of the Government because its regime 
renders life attractive and easy. .An imjjortant 
l)arl of this problem is the establishment of a 



40 



compulsory educational sytem, calculated to fit 
the people — all the people — to exercise the elective 
franchise intelligently. 

It is necessary to solve the military problem 
and bring to terms the enemies of public order. 
Mexico will need and should have a comparatively 
small, but eflScient, standing army, which, while 
capable of preserving the peace and honor of the 
country, shall not be a serious drawing upon its 
finances. 

Thus we see how greatly those err who en- 
deavor to restore peace in Mexico by force 
alone. 

The Government cannot subdue the revolution 
because, instead of adopting a tolerant, concilia- 
tory and energetic policy within the law, it has 
become cruel in the extreme and so only succeeds 
in spreading terror and provoking reaction. The 
revolution cannot win because the right manner 
in which to avenge the death of Madero — if 
Madero's death should call for revenge — is not 
by killing thousands of men, women and children 
who had nothing to do with his death; neither 
is the Constitution served by plundering and 
burning cities and towns, tearing up railroads and 
destroying bridges, nor in spreading wholesale 
destruction to the ruin and desolation of the 
country. None of these is the best way to rees- 
tablish the Constitution — allowing that the Con- 
stitution was ever enforced. 

Having before us this distressing situation, with 
all lawful authority destroyed, the Ten Command- 
ments altogether abandoned and armed interven- 
tion threatening our borders, now springs forth 
this spontaneous, patriotic and genuinely Mexican 
movement calling upon all good citizens, in the 
name of the distressed motherland, to give it 
their cooperation; a movement which shall be 
disinterested and impersonal, asking all national 
and foreign progressive elements to help us in 
the defence of truth and law and inviting the 
friends of peace and order to aid and foster it 
through every channel, all working in conjunc- 
tion for the organization of the national union. 

Let us convene, as an immediate practical re- 
sult of the movement, a peace congress, which, 
upon neutral ground and on a basis of absolute 
impartiality and national and international in- 
tegrity, shall discuss and resolve upon the recon- 
struction of Mexico in the light of the Constitution 
and of the aspirations of its people, thereby re- 
storing peace to Mexico and putting her back in 
her place among the nations of the earth. 

The congress will select an impartial committee 
of representative citizens, made up of conserva- 
tive and responsible men of all parties. 

Prepare plans for reorganizing the national 
finances, restoring the public credit and promot- 



ing economic reforms which will do justice to the 
masses. 

Announce that if the officers, leaders and sol- 
diers on both sides lay down their arms and sub- 
mit to proper law control, provision will be made 
for their payment and amnesty will be passed on 
all their debts and doings and their work will be 
pardoned and forgiven forever. 

Consider the reform of the land laws, consulting 
foreign experts and experience, if necessary, but 
acting in the matter upon their own independent 
initiative. 

Reorganize the public debt, negotiate loans 
which will permit the restoration of the monetary 
standard, restore the public credit, pay the sol- 
diers and rebuild the railroads. 

Provide for honest elections under the charge 
of impartial representative men of all parties. 

The present savage warfare is not only costing 
the country many precious lives and the destruc- 
tion of property at home, but will also impose a 
heavy burden of public debt for indemnity to 
foreigners having property in Mexico, the interest 
on which will be a long-continued and unproduc- 
tive burden upon the resources of the country. 

The continuance of the present strife will find 
the resources of the country impaired to resist 
foreign intervention, which will almost certainly 
occur, either by the United States or a combina- 
tion of powers, with the result of causing pro- 
longed anarchy or the levy of the cost of inter- 
vention upon the Mexican people, if it is success- 
ful. 

We must start anew in the work of liberation — 
liberation from the madness of revenge and all the 
passions that are driving our brothers at the 
present time. If human effort cannot alone re- 
lieve us of so many errors and misfortunes, let 
us turn our eyes to the God of nations and ask 
His divine grace to perform the most wonderful 
miracle of all, because we Mexicans also trust in 
God. 

There are many international questions which 
have been discussed in the press and elsewhere 
which will not be treated of at the present moment. 

It will be sufficient to say that whether the 
President of the United States was right or wrong 
(I do not believe he was right) in intervening in 
the internal affairs of Mexico; whether it would 
have been better or not (I believe it would have 
been better) to have recognized the Huerta Gov- 
ernment in the beginning; whether, if once recog- 
nized, it would have been able or unable to settle 
the revolution, thus sparing the loss of life, wealth 
and property (I believe that all loss could have 
been spared), we are now confronted with a sit- 
uation of fact which grows worse daily and is 
dragging us along toward a foreign war which 



41 



would have grave consequences for both parties 
and it behooves us to recognize the situation and 
meet it squarely, "with fjoDd will to all and malice 
toward none," and solve it in a practical and per- 
manent manner. We lielieve the only possible 
course has been outlined herein. 

The people of the United States should not be 
surprised by, nor alarmed over, the present con- 
ditions of Alexico, since they and we foresaw them 
years ago. I mean to say that during the last 
tive years of ex-President Dia/.'s rule there was 
but one question here and there concerning 
Mexico: "After Diaz, what?" 

We all knew and predicted that something ex- 
traordinary would follow the retirement of Gen. 
Diaz. It could not be otherwise after a vigorous 
personal government of thirty-five continuous 



years. Trouble had to come. That which now 
occurs in my country- is in part a natural conse- 
quence of Diaz's long, absolute dictatorship. 

.-Ml prepared for these disturbances, diplomatic 
agents, commercial agents, everybody interested 
in Me.\ico reported to their friends and principals 
that some great and sudden changes would then 
occur. Politicians, bankers, investors, all in deal- 
ing with Mexico and Mexican problems took such 
precautions as they thought best to meet the 
expected emergency, and now that it has come 
we should not forget these facts, nor permit our- 
selves to be unduly disturbed. The .American 
people ma)' safely rely uixjn the inborn national 
pride and patriotism of Mexico and we hope they 
may wisely aid us with their good will and moral 
support. 



42 



FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES 
JUNE 19, 1914 



TO SEEK SOLUTION OF MEXICO'S LAND PROBLEM ABROAD 

SENOR DE LA GARZA, JR., NOTED LAWYER, ABANDONING HIS 
SEAT IN CONGRESS, WILL MAKE A WORLD-WIDE STUDY OF THE 
AGRARIAN PROBLEMS OF OTHER NATIONS, SO AS TO BE READY 
WITH SOME PRACTICAL PLAN WHEN THE REVOLUTION ENDS 

By Edward Marshall 



THAT the salvation of Mexico will not come 
through the work of any of the so-called 
"patriots" who lead their tatterdemalion 
armies into battle against the Federal troops; 
that it will not come through victories perching 
on the Federal banners; that it will not come 
through intervention by the United States; that, 
indeed, intervention is the course which would be 
surest to defer any satisfactory adjustment of 
affairs in the unhappy country, is the opinion of 
Sefior Emeterio de la Garza, jr., one of Mexico's 
most distinguished lawyers, a member of the 
Mexican Congress and son of a Justice of the 
Mexican Supreme Court, who is now in New 
York City. 

He, however, is notable among Mexicans for 
having devised a definite plan whereby it seems 
not unlikely that the most acute woes of the dis- 
tracted republic to the south of us might be 
ameliorated, or even ended, and is sufficiently 
possessed of the courage of his convictions to have 
refused high public office under Huerta in order 
to start into motion the wheels which he believes 
may carry his nation forward into peace and a 
greater prosperity than she has ever known. I 
have seen Huerta's letters to him and copies of 
his answers. 

He seems to be unique among Mexican re- 
formers in that he includes in his plan nothing 
that is political, and in that in his plan is no hint 
of a desire for personal office. It is his belief that 
some one must speedily devise a constructive plan 
for the rebuilding of the torn republic, and to that 
task he has formally dedicated his fortune and 
his life's effort. 

In the present situation he sees no hope what- 
ever; nor does he find any reason for belief that 
any of the programs advocated by any one of the 
Mexican leaders of today, even if carried sin- 
cerely to its ultimate conclusion, could really solve 
the formidable problem which is now presented 
in the fertile land beyond the Rio Grande. 

Economic and Social Problem 

"Mexico's problem is economic and social, 
rather than political," he explained, "and, of 



course, can be solved, although it must at once be 
admitted that the conditions now existing in 
Mexico are not nor have ever been duplicated 
elsewhere. 

"But nothing is officially under way, either in 
Mexico or the United States, which promises to 
produce the solution. Huerta? Carranza? Villa? 
Intervention? Peace with the United States? 
None of these details is primarily important. 

"Leaders will not matter, one way or the other; 
intervention will not matter, one way or another. 
The one thing that can matter is the develop- 
ment of Mexico along modern lines. 

"This must occur before pacification or, at 
least, anything like a permanent peace can be 
assured ; and with that development which Mexico 
needs, and which is by no means beyond her reach, 
peace will come automatically, and with it that 
prosperity which may reasonably be expected of 
one of the world's richest countries. 

"Land. Finance. They are the two magic 
words for Mexico. 

"A constructive policy which not only will re- 
pair the ravages of war, but which will repair the 
still greater ravages that justly may be laid at the 
door of the sort of peace — the Diaz peace of the 
mailed hand, armed with a rifle — which preceded 
the present days of war must be put in operation 
before Mexico even can begin to see the light of 
hope. 

"First in this policy must be something of the 
nature of a financial program, which will tem- 
porarily enable the country to transact its internal 
and foreign business after the anarchy which has 
come with the protracted war; but even such a 
policy, were it planned by the greatest genius 
that the world has ever known, would be certain 
to be ineffective unless it had as its foundation a 
reform of Mexico's land laws and the erection, as 
a part of her future. Governmental plan of some 
system which will not only correct past evils, but 
which, by giving the peon — the Indian — popula- 
tion lands of their own, will take the men of 
Mexico from warfare and make farmers of them. 

"It is the duty of patriotic Mexicans, and I 
consider it especially my duty, to assist in the 
discovery of means by which these things may be 



45 



brought al)out. To this task I shall devote such 
of my life as may be necessary." 

Coming from Seflor tie la Garza, Jr., this state- 
ment may be regarded as highly important. He 
represents progressi\e Me.xico as few men do. 
Born in Monterey, State of Nuevo Leon, he was 
educated at Cornell University and at the Na- 
tional School of Law, Me.xico City. He has been 
a member of the Me.xican Congress ever since he 
reached the constitutional age of twenty-live un- 
til now, when he has rejected his credentials, 
because he considers them illegal, although his 
seat is still held open fur him. 

He was one of the Commissioners who were 
sent to the United States by the Diaz Govern- 
ment in i()03 to study our financial system and 
prepare laws for Me.\ican monetary reform. In 
Mexico City, until the beginning of his voluntary 
exile, he was one of the most important lawyers, 
acting as legal adviser to the Government in many 
important cases and as the representative of much 
American capital. 

Last year he was intrusted by Gen. Huerta with 
the important task of touring the twenty-two 
States of Mexico in an attempt to being about 
peace; and, as the representative of the Central 
Government, he conferred with the legislative, 
executive, and judicial representatives of each 
State in this elTort to rebuild the nation. 

The result of this journey was unsatisfactory 
because Gen. Huerta either would not or could 
not fulfill the promises which were made. 

Since then Senor de la Garza, Jr., has eschewed 
partlzanship, preferring to be known as a "national 
man." Last year he was olTered the office of 
Consul General to Paris, but refused it, and later 
rejected Gen. Huerla's personal request to return 
to Mexico and take his seat in the present Con- 
gress. 

His, undoubtedly, was one of the loudest voices 
raised for the [irotection of American property at 
three stormy Cabinet meetings. He urged a 
proclamation declaring it to be the sacred duly 
of all Mexicans to indemnify foreigners for such 
losses as they had suffered, and the immediate 
payment of not less than twenty-five per cent, of 
the property values which may have been de- 
stroyed. 

"If we cannot do better," he argued, "we must 
buy American interests at a fair price, and thus 
make spectators of them; whereas, they now are 
participants in the game. If this should cost five 
hundred millions Mexico would lie the gainer by 
it, for it would leave her sovereign." 

But against this the argument that the United 
States owed Me.xico millions of indemnity, be- 
cause the Washington Government was said to 
have encouraged Mexican revolutionists, pre- 



vailed, on the theory that this encouragement 
had resulted in the destruction of property, l(Mjt- 
ing of cities, and vast loss of life. 

"In order to support this claim," he told me, 
" the Mexican Government has long been busy 
with the preparation of a paper to be circulated 
among the governments of the world, formulating 
serious charges against the United States. Thi> 
may never be presented now, but had things gone 
well with Gen. Huerta it surely would have been." 

Finally Seiior de la Garza, Jr., fully severed hi^ 
connection with the present Mexican Govern- 
ment, although he was virtually olTered his choice 
of Cabinet portfolios if he would join hands 
with it. 

The crux of the situation lies in the land prob- 
lem, he l)elieves. " Mexico's land must be divided 
among the Indians," he assured me. "The ambi- 
tion of almost every one of them is to become a 
small land owner. That alone will they accejjt 
in preference to the life of guerilla soldiery, which 
so many of them are now leading. 

"Make them that and they will work with con- 
tentment toward the establishment of stable 
government, for, this having been accomplished, 
stable government will mean for them prosperity, 
comfort, and happiness. The stability of the 
Diaz Government did not mean that, but virtual 
skuery for them. 

"Of course, the agrarian ciuestion includes other 
problems and impinges upon still others, but, in 
a general way, it may be regarded as the Mexican 
problem of the most importance. 

Division Through Ta.xation 

"The only divisions of the great estates which 
possibly can be made, must be brought about 
through taxation. The Mexican Constitution 
prohibits confiscation, and, of course, whatever 
is done as a solution of existing difficulties must 
be done in accordance with the Constitution or 
it will not stand. 

"Property must be protected. .A man can be 
dispossessed from his lands only by due process 
of law. .^ comparatively few large landholders 
to some extent must be dispossessed before any- 
thing of \ital moment can be done, therefore the 
planning and adojition of elTective laws which will 
make this ]iossii)le without violation of the Con- 
stitution are essential. 

"Madero's plan was sim])ly to take the land 
by force from the great holders and to divide it 
among the peojjle. But during his brief regime, 
although this had been the jjrincipal promi.se upon 
which he secured his following, he made no elTort 
to begin this process. It was too obvious that he 
could not do it without violation of the Consti- 
tution. 



46 



"It was his avowed purjiose to say to the large 
landholders: 'You have robbed the peon, now we 
shall take back that which you have stolen from 
him.' 

"But these words were never spoken, for it is 
a fact that the revolution of the poor which un- 
seated Diaz and put Madero into power was fol- 
lowed by a revolution of the rich, which not only 
unseated Madero, but destroyed him. 

"That was what reached its climax on that 
tragic night when he was killed — it was a revolu- 
tion of the rich against proposed injustices as 
great as those which in other days had been per- 
petrated against the poor. 

"Reforms cannot be accomplished by bringing 
forth new wrongs as their remedies. 

"Since Madero 's death nothing real has been 
attempted. The Constitutionalists have gained 
their following through promulgating a program 
of land confiscation and division, but such tactics 
cannot win. 

"I, myself, was consulted as a lawyer by some 
of the Constitutionalist leaders in regard to this 
matter of land confiscation. I told them that the 
plan was unconstitutional, being worse than that 
followed by President Juarez when he confiscated 
the property of those who had supported France 
when she was at war with Mexico. 

"It would be supposed that if anything could 
be regarded as excusing seizure, such events as 
these would, but the Mexican Supreme Court, 
after that war was over, gave back to their origi- 
nal owners all the lands, nullifying the acts of 
Juarez; that is, its decisions rendered it necessary 
for those who had taken possession of the lands 
to pay rental to the original owners. 

"The Constitution of Mexico says no punish- 
mant shall be inflicted upon any one which shall 
fall upon others also. Punishments which include 
property confiscation do thus affect others, as, 
for example, those to whom the confiscated prop- 
erties would naturally pass by right of succession. 

" Under due and legal process of law an offender 
may be shot, but his property may not be con- 
fiscated. Such punishment, indeed, is contrary 
to all the laws of Mexico, and, no matter how 
emphatically people outside Mexico and some 
people within her borders may believe that she 
at present is in a lawless, anarchistic state, such 
a violation of her fundamental law as confiscation 
of large land-owner's property and its division 
among the Indians or any one else would eventu- 
ally be declared invalid by her constituted courts. 
No title thus passed would be worth having. 

"Therefore the only lawful process which I see 
by which the very necessary division of Mexican 
lands may be accomplished lies in taxation. If 
the right sort of land taxation laws be put in 



force, uncultivated and undeveloped land will be- 
come an intolerable burden to its owners. 

No man could afford to retain ownership of 
great tracts of unproductive but well-taxed land. 
Sale or abandonment of much of the great prop- 
erties would become, after the imposition of en- 
tirely reasonable taxation, an economical neces- 
sity to their owners." 

I asked Senor de la Garza, Jr., if land is not 
already taxed in Mexico? 

"Yes," he replied, "but by a most imperfect 
system, favoring the large landholders. Taxes 
are imposed upon properties as units, and land 
owners have found ways of insuring low estimates 
of the value of their holdings. 



Taxes Too Small 

"Great haciendas pay taxes as single proper- 
ties, without regard to acreage, and these taxes 
are absurdly small in almost, if not every, instance, 
while the taxes paid upon small adjoining prop- 
erties may be unjustly high. Political influence 
plays its part in the valuation of the great estates. 

"Under the present system millions of acres 
are taxed at the rate which hundreds should be 
forced to pay, and, because of the power which 
ownership of the great estates carries with it, col- 
lections even of these silly little taxes are made in 
a slovenly manner or not at all. 

" For the emphasis of this point it may be well 
to call the attention of the American newspaper- 
reading public to the fact that the owners of three 
estates under the present system were, before 
revolution interrupted the 'peaceful' conduct of 
Chihuahua State, the rulers of that great domain. 
Their power was practically absolute in a terri- 
tory as large as that of all France. 

"Of course, such a state of affairs cannot con- 
tinue in this day and age. I think that in Chi- 
huahua there are no small landowners, but there 
may be a few. If so, their holdings are abso- 
lutely insignificant. 

"The reason for the starting of the revolution 
in Chihuahua, in Coahuila, and Durango was 
nothing but the failure to divide the land among 
the people, as had been promised by the Madero 
movement. Not a shot was fired in Guanajuato, 
Jalisco, Queretaro, Aguascalientes, and some other 
States in the Mesa Centrale, or central plateau, 
because there the land was more or less divided. 



Millions of Acres Untaxed 

" Such families as the Terrazas in Chihuahua, 
the Maderos in Coahuila, the de la Torres and 
Coronas in Morelos, the Molinas in Yucatan, own 
millions of acres, literally millions, which are 



47 



almost wholly uiulL'S'eloi)fi.l, only slightly culti- 
vated, and practically untaxed. 

■'From this system has the evil of slavery 
sprung. Of course, Mexican slavery is not nomi- 
nally that, hut it is actually that. It has been 
brought about by small loans to the working 
classes — almost e.xclusively Indian — upon which 
heavy interest charges are made, through the sale 
by the haciendas, themselves, at whatever jirices 
they may choose to set, often higher than the 
earning capacity of the Indians makes it possible 
for them to pay. of the merchandise necessary to 
their bare existence. .An interest rate as high as 
ninety per cent, per annum is not unknown. 

''Not the body but the labor of the peon who 
is in debt to the landed jiroprietor is the worker's 
nominal liability, but this ownershij) of service is 
so absolute that if the jx-on tries to get away, 
leaving debt behind him, he may be arrested and 
legally punished. 

"The rarity of the peon who is not in debt in 
Mexico may be indicated ijy the fact that on 
many of the estates the debts of great-grandfathers 
are held against the present generation of peons. 
For a peon to discharge his debts is absolutely 
out of the question, his wages ranging as low as 
thirty-tive cents a day, Mexican, or about fiflcoii 
or twenty cents a day American money. 

"Peonage of this sort may readily be jjeiiuved 
to carry with it all the evils of actual slavery, 
including ignorance, unspeakable poverty, drunk- 
enness (for drink is the only thing the Mexican 
peon can get cheaply), and such immoralities as 
would stagger the average American to think of, 
including frequent incestual conditions of living. 

'■ From peonage only a solution of the land 
problem can otTer any possible escape. The futil- 
ity of the existing revolutions, for there are several 
really in progress, in spite of the general American 
impression that only one general and fairly well- 
organized revolt is under way, may be well indi- 
cated by the statement that not one of the revolu- 
tionary leaders has otTered even a tentative sug- 
gestion as to how the national inizzle may be 
effectually worked out. 

"Madero's confiscatory and, therefore, logically 
and legally impossible [)lan comprises the only 
one which has been offered . Huerla has not even 
suggested that he has a jjlan. \'illa, Carranza — 
all of the revolutionary leaders, are as wholly lack- 
ing in ideas. 

"Xowhere is there now, nor has there been at 
any time, a single practical suggestion in regard 
to this im[)<>rlant matter; therefore it may be 
said that while the existing Government in Mexico 
is shown by this to be entirely incompetent to 
draw my unhappy country out of the quagmire 
of disorder and distress into which it has fallen, 



it is equally im|)ossible to expect anything in the 
least better for it from any of the so-called 're- 
form' movements now in progress. 

"This seems to present a verj- hojieless picture. 
Doubtless the picture would be wholly hopeless 
were it not for the fact that humanity, in .\Ie.\ico 
or elsewhere, ever has refused to tolerate a huiie- 
less situation. 

"Other nations have worked out the land prob- 
lem. It has nowhere been found to be insuper- 
able. Difhcult as it is, it will not be found to be 
insuperable in Mexico. 

The Only Remedy 

'■ For the situation as it stands there is but one 
remedy: a careful study of the methods which 
have been ajiplied in other countries, and then 
an equally careful working out of a new system 
which shall be applicable to Mexican conditions. 

"Confiscation being unconstitutional, taxa- 
tion, as I have said, must be the tool with which 
salvation is carved out. This must be studied in 
Ireland, in Japan, in Russia, in Italy, where some- 
what, although never exactlj', similar conditions 
ha\e existed and have in some measure been 
straightened out. 

"Xo immigrant would at [present go to Mexico, 
although it is the richest country' in the world, 
and should logically offer to immigration such 
opi)ortunities as no other country on the globe 
can offer. 

"We must know why they cannot come. We 
must so arrange affairs that they will come. .\nd 
everything which is done in Mexico toward solu- 
tion of the problem must not only conform to the 
letter and spirit of the Mexican Constitution, but 
must satisfy the demands of foreign governnu-nts 
and investors, if for no other reason than because 
we must get the money for our national develop- 
ment from abroad. 

"When economic conditions in Mexico are as 
favorable as they are elsewhere, then immigration 
will rush to the country, and a new era will begin 
for it and its [jeople. 

"There is more free land and better land there 
than is anywhere else available, the climate is as 
desirable as any in the world, and to the agricul- 
turist Mexico, under the right conditions, would 
offer the easiest life that any agriculturist ever 
has known. But all these advantages are nullified 
by lack of proper land laws. 

Constructive Program Needed 

'T i^ersonally have been giving verj' serious 
consideration to these various problems. Peace 
and the dignified and orderly settlement of our 
domestic and external troubles can come only 



48 



through the working out of a constructive pro- 
gram. Financial reorganization and agrarian re- 
form include our only hope. 

"Even if these should not automatically pacify 
Mexico, they, and they alone, can successfully be 
used as the corner-stone of an ultimate pacifica- 
tion. 

"For two years I have been preaching this in 
my own country and the United States. The new 
Government of the new Mexico, whether sectar- 
ian or national, whether established by the Mex- 
ican people themselves or by the United States 
through armed intervention, must, as the first 
act of its administration, find the money with 
which to carry out the ancient promise and the 
present necessity of dividing the land among the 
Indians. Secondly, it will have to find a way of 
doing this with justice to every one concerned. 

"These things will need to be immediately done. 
The Indians will not wait. Hope deferred maketh 
the heart sick, and they have waited long. They 
will not accept further empty promises, but if 
action is not prompt will again begin to fight 
among themselves and against whoever may ap- 
pear. 

" But in order to make the draft of a sound and 
workable plan for financial foundations and 
agrarian reforms, much time and study will be 
required. It is a complex subject in theory, a 
complicated one in practice, and in Mexico more 
difficult than elsewhere. 

"The whole Mexican conflict has sprung from 
a vast misunderstanding of economic fact. The 
elevation of Villa or Carranza to the Presidency 
will serve no good purpose, the retention of Huerta 
in power will serve none, nothing will be effective 
till this economic misunderstanding has been 
cleared away. 

"Bent on hoping to solve the problem, I have 
closely studied the laws and methods which have 
been successfully followed in France, Italy, Ire- 
land, Japan, Russia, and New Zealand. Similar 
reforms, adapted to our needs, would pacify 
Mexico and keep it pacified, as eighty per cent, 
of our population is made up of agrarian Indians. 
I am about to go abroad to continue my investi- 
gations. 

"The reform must certainly be effective upon 
the basis of the homestead — that is, after a satis- 
factory system of allotment has been devised, the 
Indian must be forbidden to sell the land allotted 
to him, but must be bound, in exchange for his 
free allotment, to keep the land free for himself 
and family through successive generations; and 
it must be protected from attachment or mort- 
gages, lien or any other obligation. 

"As soon as a real government is established 
in Mexico it will be in a position to get, let us 



say, a billion dollars through an issue of bonds 
of fifty years' duration or perpetual rent. 

"The Mexican proprietors will then have the 
choice of purchasing those bonds or seeing them 
sold to foreign markets, and the Indian, to whom 
the lands have been allotted, will pay in the form 
of rent, or a percentage upon the annual produc- 
tion of his land, a sum annually great enough to 
pay the interest upon the bonds, and to establish 
a sinking fund. 

"The problem may be solved easily if placed 
in the hands of honest and intelligent persons, 
who have at heart the interests of the whole com- 
munity, rather than of any faction. 

"To prepare a sound, equitable and workable 
plan for financial and agrarian reform in Mexico, 
the legislation covering taxation, administrative 
machinery, and the general working system must 
be considered not only from the Mexican local 
point of view, but from that of the broad financial 
world, for the system must include the large loan 
to the new Government, an agricultural bank to 
transact all the business of the new agricultural 
system, and the arrangement of the guarantee, 
the bonds, and methods of payment. 

"It may even be necessary to include in the 
new plans means for the restoration of the Mex- 
ican monetary standard, the payment of soldiers, 
the cost of reconstructing railroads, the payment 
of indemnities, etc. The international character 
of the satisfaction which this plan must give is 
indicated by the fact that English, German, and 
French banks of necessity will furnish the greater 
part of all the vast sums which will be required 
for this really constructive work. 

"There are men like myself, whose familiarity 
with Mexican laws and the history and habits of 
the Mexican people would enable them to work 
out what might seem to be a plan sure to succeed 
upon the spot. 

"But this must be a far more thorough task 
than anything which can be planned oft'hand. All 
that has been done in France, in Russia, in Japan, 
in Ireland must be considered, and such details 
as may be found to be available for Mexico must 
be adopted, with such changes elsewhere as may 
be demanded by conditions peculiar to the Mex- 
ican country and the people. 

"All these things being true, I have decided 
upon a visit to Europe for the purpose of gather- 
ing information and for the purpose of holding 
conferences with political and financial ex-perts 
familiar with the operation of agrarian systems. 

"It seems to me that the creation of a program 
which will at once be practical and agreeable to 
the disturbed elements in Mexico is a task fit for 
any real patriot, as it is the only way out of the 
present anarchical situation, and in the prepara- 



49 



tion of such a program I trust that I shall ha\e 
thf real cooperation not only of Mexicans but of 
American interests in Mexico. With such I shall 
be glad at any time to consult and advise." 

I asked Senor de la Gar/a, Jr., to express an 
opinion of the course which the United States 
Government has follo\ve<l with regard to Mexican 
affairs. 

"In considering Mexican aflairs, the United 
States has probably been altruistic," he replied. 
"It has been animated by no selfish desire for 
conc|uist, actual or otherwise. Hut it not always 
has been sensible, and not once has it been (iee]). 

" Consideration of Huerta's f'ltness for the office 
of President never was one of the really most 
important matters. For the United States to 
demand a popular election in Mexico is but to 
make a joke of both nations, for. as things stand 
and as for a long time they must stand, a really 
]X)pular election is an impossibility. Mexico 
must develop much before such a thing can come. 

"To sit back in Washington and demand of 
Mexico impossibilities, things which the people 
do not understand and cannot be expected to 
understand, is not to render Mexico good service. 

"That ser\-ice which most will benefit Mexico, 
whether it be rendered by the United States or 
someone else, must consist of aiding Mexico — 
that is, the people of Mexico — to such develop- 
ment, by means as speedy as are possible, as will 
make real popular elections possible later on. 

"It is rather melancholy for a man like myself, 
who loves his Mexico, to contemplate the fact 
that not a single etTort in this direction is being 
made, either in the United Slates or in Mexico. 
None of the Mexican leaders — not Huerta nor any 
of the men opposing him — none of our good friends 
in Washington or anywhere in this country, is 
striving toward this end. 

"The best interests of Mexico as well as of the 
foreign capital invested there and the best in- 
terests of international friendship will best be 
served, not by favoring one or the other of the 
Mexican factions, as seems to be constantly 
thought best by Mexico's friends in the United 
States. Such a course, no matter how honest and 
admirable may be the motives which give it in- 
ception, must be disastrous, not beneficial. 



" But it will be to make it possible for a new 
sentiment to be born there which will stand for 
something which the sentiment of no present 
faction stands for — real progress of the human 
beings who inhabit Mexico. 

Mexico Mist Be KDitAihu 

"No country is, or can be. greater than thi 
peo])le who inhabit it. To help Mexico, there- 
fore, we must help Mexicans. After the Mexican 
has had a chance for development he will select 
leaders very ditTerent from those he now chooses, 
more through ignorance than vicious sym- 
pathies. 

"Mexico needs education. The United States 
Government, from time to time, has lifted the 
embargo upon firearms and ammunition, encour- 
aging the exportation into Mexico of these .Amer- 
ican products. The American product which 
Mexico really needs is not a cartridge, but a school 
book. 

"The .American administration which shall pay 
as little attention as possible, either through 
recognition or condemnation, to ambitious and 
selfish Mexican politicians and which shall en- 
deavor to assist those Mexicans who are trying 
to build up, rather than to destroy, will render 
the most friendly possible service to a distressed 
neighbor. 

" .And this statement may be applied with equal 
truth to American financial interests. To favor 
one faction or the other is but to prolong the evil 
days. To work for the good of Mexico itself is 
to work for the real and permanent good of all 
in\'estments there, and the way to work for the 
real good of Mexico is to work for the solution 
of the countrv'"s great national problems, of which 
the land problem is the greatest. 

"It is this and allied difficulties which are re- 
sponsible for the present warfare, for they are 
responsible for the conditions which became in- 
tolerable and against which the people revolted 
without knowing what they wished to substitute 
for them. 

"If these fundamentally wrong conditions are 
not corrected, any peace which comes will be of 
short duration, no matter how many solemn meet- 
ings may be held at Niagara Falls or elsewhere." 



50 



FROM THE HUMANITARIAN MAGAZINE 
DECEMBER, 1916 



AGRARIAN PROBLEM OF MEXICO 

By Emeteeio de la Garza, Jr. 



THE trouble with Mexico is the terrible 
economic conditions in which her agrarian 
population is living. In my opinion, the 
paramount problems are the agrarian, the finan- 
cial and the social problems. 

And the solution of the agrarian problems can- 
not be postponed, the natives are in no mood to 
wait. They may not understand the problem nor 
how to go about a proper solution, but they want 
the lands. They have been deceived so man 3^ 
times with empty promises that the only thing 
to be done is to give them the land, or they will 
continue on the war-path. Much time and doubts, 
many disappointments and troubles, can be saved 
and avoided by adopting the agrarian reforms at 
once. 

Therefore, no greater ser\-ice can be rendered 
to the Mexican people, to any Government that 
may be installed, and incidentally to the large 
foreign interest invested in my country, than to 
prepare a plan which will bring a peaceful, orderly 
and satisfactory solution of the land question. 

Mexico, on account of her wealth and the money 
already invested there by foreigners, is an inter- 
national countr\r, and a sound, fair and workable 
plan for the execution of the agrarian reforms and 
the reorganization of her financial standing should 
therefore partake of the character of and must 
be an international plan. It cannot be accom- 
plished in Mexico or by Mexicans alone, nor by 
the United States or any other foreign country 
only, as it must conform not only to the Mexican 
points of view and necessities, as to legislation, 
taxation and administrative machinery, but also 
to the world's requirements in the matter of loans, 
bonds, securities, immigration, etc. 

While it is obvious that the methods followed 
in other countries could not be applied "ready 
made" in Mexico by reason of the great differ- 
ence in agricultural, financial and political con- 
ditions, still the thoughtful study of the agrarian 
measure taken abroad and the experiences of 
those countries will be of great help in the solu- 
tion of the whole Mexican problem. The matter 
must be considered and intimately approached 
from two sides quite apart, but related, viz.: the 
racial characteristics, local necessities and actual 
conditions of the Mexcian people, and on the 
other side, the American, European and Japanese 
precedents and experiences in agrarian question; 
a real international plan. 

The whole agrarian problem of Mexico might 
be crystallized in a few words: all the difficulties 



arise from the individual ownership of enormous 
tracts of land — in some cases embracing nearly 
an entire large State or more, with the result 
that the soil remains uncultivated, except in a 
very small way, and this under the peonage or 
feudal system, which is worse than slavery. For 
the Mexican Indian, the sole ambition and su- 
preme happiness would be to reach that state of 
life in which he may become a small landowner, 
unable as he is to make headway in other fields 
because he is not cosmopolitan in his life or work, 
and therefore cannot live outside of Mexico or 
engage in the world's leading business; but the 
large States have been heretofore undivided, the 
communal lands were taken from the villages and 
all the land in Mexico belongs either to the Gov- 
ernment or to foreigners. 

To emphasize the conditions, social and eco- 
nomic, under which the Mexican people were 
laboring and are fighting at present, let me lay 
before the public of America a short and com- 
parative study which, strengthened by ofiicial and 
absolutely authentic information, will be more 
than enough to convince even the most skeptical 
of the real enormitj' of the Mexican agrarian 
problem. 

There were in Ireland, in the year 1878, with 
only 4,000,000 inhabitants and with a fertile, 
fruitful soil on which had been adopted methods 
of intensive cultivation, 70,000 landlords who 
worked over an area of 8,000,000 hectares. The 
farms of the Irish landlords were relatively small 
— very small — compared to the vast possessions 
of the Mexican feudal lords, which goes to prove 
that, as a matter of fact, the subdivision of land 
_ was already made in Ireland. (I am not speak- 
ing of the political condition of Ireland but of 
her land problems.) However, the situation be- 
came so unbearable for the Irish people in 1878, 
that the solution of the agrarian reforms could 
not be postponed any longer, and at once were 
effected. The marvelous transformation of the 
Irish lands into a general productive soil is an 
accomplished fact for the benefit of her people. 

In contradistinction to this, there are in Mexico 
only 9,000 farms — haciendas — and from twenty 
to twenty-five thousand small ranches stretched 
over an area of 767,000 square miles. It often 
happens that one of the Senores is the owner of 
two or three farms or haciendas. The fact that 
many of these ranches are located within the con- 
fines of the big farms renders them so poor and 
insignificant that they should not be taken into 



53 



consideration. Then we can safely reason the 
conclusion that 25,000 feudal lords are the sole 
owners of the rural Mexico, with a |x)pulation of 
16,000,000 and 767,000 square miles, of which 
there are 500,000 s<iuare miles of tillable land. 

Comparing; the aj^rarian situation of Ireland 
forty years ajjo with the real conditions |)revail- 
ing in Mexico totlay. my country should have 
about 1,250,000 landlords to be in the same eco- 
nomic land status in which Ireland was in 1S78, 
that is, when it was absolutely necessary to alTect 
the agrarian reforms, ami Mexico has onl\' 
25,000 landlords and she is 200 times larger than 
Puerto Rico, which has 50,000 landlords, and 20 
times larger than Cuba, which has over 100,000 
landlords. 

Now to remedy this great misfortune, I would 
propose an agrarian law to be put in full force 
all over the territory of the Re[)ublic of Mexico, 
.\rticle first of which would stale that the divi- 
sion and subdivision of the rural properly is a case 
of Public Utility and, therefore, it remains sub- 
jected lo c.v/>r()/>r/ij//t>« (not confiscation) by the 
Government through the jiroper process of law and 
previously jwying the indemnification price. 
Works of Public Utility may be considered, also 
the irrigation of lands, the canalization of rivers 
and the opening of ways of communication. 

Thus the Governnient has the right to acquire 
the lands without causing any loss to legitimate 
owners. The reason is the State's reason, public 
health and benefit. The Mexican Constitution, 
like the fundamental law of any other country, 
prohibits loiijiscalioii. and the agrarian reforms 
must be done in Mexico in accordance with the 
Constitution or they will not stand. A man can- 
not be dispossessed of his [)ropert\' but b\- a fair 
price and due process of law. The inviolability 
of pri\ate property is the first and the paramount 
princi[)le upon which society rests. Coiijisailioii 
is robbery, nothing else, wholesale robbery. 

Even if it were true that in Mexico the land- 
lords despoiled the Indians of the lands, yet an 
injustice cannot be corrected by another injus- 
tice. Facts already accomplished and for years 
consented to, bring forth inevitable results. Have 
not these alleged injustices caused this revolu- 
tion? Then new injustices will cause a new 
revolution, and so on forever. Reforms cannot 
be accomplished b>- bringing forth new wrongs 
as their remedies; good cannot come out of an 
excess of evil. I want to convince my countr\-- 
men that we canrot go in Mexico against vested 
rights, that we cannot turn ujiside down the 
whole order of life, ignore all authority, law and 
moral principle. To me, i)ro[)erly is the natural 
consequence, the logical ratification, the gratify- 



ing result of all the rights of the man put together, 
of all human liljerty. I am free. I labor, I gain 
money, I invest it, I become a proprietor. My 
pro[K'rty is the material form in which society 
rewards ami acknowledges my work, industry 
and liberty. Let us declare, therefore, that all 
properties, territorial, public, intlividual and in- 
dustrial shall be forever res|)ected. Conjistation 
is not constructive, it is destructive. On the 
contrary, fxpropriiition for reason of public wel- 
fare is justified by all i)rinciples of legislation, 
morality and social rights. 

We can learn some lessons by the experience of 
France. Charles X., after Louis X\'III., provided 
for a suitable indemnification to the emigres for 
the pro]jerlies ("OH/(it"ii/cJ during the great French 
Revolution and a billion francs were decreed by 
the Parliament of France to that elTect. Emigris 
were victims who came to claim their own, said 
the King, and it was incumbent to the Govern- 
ment to give them their due. "It is important," 
said the Premier Minister, '"that by one memor- 
able and universally useful exam|)le we should 
teach the lesson that great injustice should re- 
ceive in course of time great reimration." It is 
also a measure of reconciliation and arrmesty. 
The holders of the confiscated estates in France 
never were firmly guaranteed in their possession, 
until the legitimate owners received a just in- 
demnity. So. ultimately, we will have to do the 
same thing in Mexico for security of the holders 
and satisfaction to the owners. 

The onh' lawful process which I see by which 
the very necessary division of Mexican lands may 
be accomplished lies in expropriation . We could also 
resort to taxation, but not now. In the .V. V. 
Times I have said: "that if the right sort of land 
taxation laws were put in force, uncultivated and 
undeveloped land would become an intolerable 
burden to its owner, that no man could alTord to 
retainownershipofgrcat tracts of unproductive but 
well-taxed land, an enforced and progressive tax. 
that sale or abandonment of much of the griat 
properties would become, after the imposition of 
entirely rea.sonable taxation, an economic necessity 
to their owners. Still I ani not very much in favor 
of taxation any niore ami. as a general rule, for. 
Mexico under |)resent circumstances. It may be 
all right in normal times, but not at the present 
time, because the landlords, thinking that the 
Mexican Governments will not last very loi'g 
and the new administration will modify the plan, 
may be willing to pay the [)rice and the land will 
continue undivided and the lax will be ultimately 
l)aid by the peon, leaving conditions as they are, 
if not worse." As to expropriation, it is lawful, 
forced sale, payment of the just value, and it 
answers the pur|)ose admirably. 



.■>4 



The second article of the Agrarian Law will 
provide for the indemnification price as follows: 

The indemnification price to be paid by the 
Government shall be the price fixed and declared 
by the proprietor himself, by stating at the office 
of the Public Registry within ninety days the 
true value of his property. Should the price not 
be changed, that which is now recorded would 
be the price of expropriation. All errors or mis- 
representations and the responsibilities incurred, 
both civil or criminal, due to previous declara- 
tions for less value shall be condoned. No other 
taxation shall be declared hereafter than a single 
tax of one per cent., ten to a thousand, upon the 
true value of the whole property. 

This form of appraisement is the best and the 
simplest. Being optional for the Government to 
buy or not to buy, should the owners exaggerate 
the price, they can be left alone paying taxes for 
a high price. Should they not answer promptly 
to the call the property can be bought, due to 
their own fault, at the ridiculous price they have 
recorded to avoid taxes. But with all past errors 
condoned and the assurance of having but a sin- 
gle tax to pay, I am sure that the matter can be 
adjusted properly. 

The Catastro, the old, slow, complicated sys- 
tem of taking the census of real-estate property 
in Mexico, never worked successfully; it involves 
too many technicalities, gives room for conceal- 
ment and deceit. My proposition is excellent. 
It will be foolish on the part of the hacendado to 
conceal the price of his lands, as it will serve as 
a basis for the payment of the expropi-iation. 
Of course, at the outset, the landowner will be 
taken aback by the fear that an honest declara- 
tion of the price of his farm will render him hable 
to overcharges in taxation, or that he will be 
made responsible for having concealed in the 
past the true value of his property; but once the 
hacendados are assured that the responsibilities 
of the past will not be pressed against them and 
that they will not be called upon for fifty years 
to pay a higher rate of taxation than one per 
cent., or ten per thousand, they will readily com- 
ply with the law, registering their farm in the 
office of the Public Registry of Property within 
their districts at its true, real and effective value; 
that is, the value at which he wants to dispose of 
it without any loss whatsoever. The law must 
provide that, under the same conditions and lia- 
bilities, the lando\\Tiers can alter the declaration 
of the value of their property at any time, sub- 
ject to the improvements made on it or the de- 
preciation, if any. 

Our hacendados, or farmers, have never de- 
clared the true value of their properties for 
purposes of taxation. Be it a practice as general 



as corrupt; be it that in Mexico the custom has 
been abused beyond the limit reached in other 
countries; be it because the landlords do not 
believe in the stability and honesty of our gov- 
ernments; be it because the latter is formed by 
men who gain power by accident, and their only 
aim is to exploit the people and enrich themselves; 
be it, as it may, both government and hacendados 
cheat and deceive themselves mutually, the latter 
declaring a nominal and ridiculous value of their 
lands in order to escape taxation and the former 
overcharging assessm.ents and taxes to get from 
them the greatest possible amount. The lack of 
uniformity in the taxation of lands in Mexico can 
be inferred from the fact that in some of our 
states the rate changes from five per cent., seven 
per cent., ten per cent., to fifteen per cent., and 
in some of them it has gone as high as seventeen 
per cent., twenty-five per cent., and thirty per 
cent. 

It happens that as small landowners cannot 
hide successfully the exact dimensions of their 
lands, which are apparent to eA'erybody, they are 
compelled to pay two or three times the amount 
allotted to the large lando\\'ners, who in all cases 
are able to use their territorial control and polit- 
ical influence with the authorities to avoid pay- 
ment of taxation. So monstrous and immoral is 
the situation created by this custom, so disgrace- 
ful is the abuse of the practice, that I, going 
through the offices of various departments of 
State, local Government and Land Registries in 
Mexico, have found that the value of all the real 
estate in the Mexican Republic, from the United 
States border in the North to that of Guatemala 
in the South, is appraised for the purpose of taxa- 
tion at $800,000,000 Mexican money, which, to 
say the least, is perfectly absurd and ridiculous. 
Mexico is more than two hundred tim.es larger 
than Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rico has its lands 
valued at more than $100,000,000 American 
money. 

Once all the lands of Mexico are revalued, they 
will be worth twenty thousand millions of dollars. 
United States Currency; twenty billions of dol- 
lars and with a tax of one per cent., wordd give 
to the Government of Mexico from the beginning 
a new income of $200,000,000, every year, and 
this tax, even on a higher A'aluation of the prop- 
erty, will be much less than the outrageous taxes 
that are now being paid, that is to say, not paid 
— on fictitious prices. It is a new revenue from 
the soil which has heretofore been unproductive, 
thus helping the solution of another problem, the 
financial problem. 

The agrarian reforms must be accomplished in 
Mexico after the well-known method, the home- 
stead. We ought to accept and follow such 



55 



suggestions and rules — with necessary modilica- 
lions — as are embodied in an act of the United 
States Congress, passed in 1S62, granting land 
not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres to any 
conditions of an occupancy of live, ten, fifty 
years or perpetually, j)roviding also for the ex- 
emption from seizure or sale by debt, mortgage or 
any other lien, and the beneficiary to retain said 
land from generation to generation successfully. 
Under such restrictions, the Indian or the immi- 
grant, no matter his nationality, favored with a 
parcel of land, cannot dispose of it; on the con- 
trary, he will be compelled to keej) it and cultivate 
it for his own benefit and that of his family with- 
out any other encumbrance than the payment of 
a tax of one-half per cent, on the jirice annually. 

How claims under the homestead law in Mexico 
mav originate, b\' whom and how entries may be 
made, the rights of widows, heirs or demises under 
such laws, the time of residence and portion of 
cultivation required, alienation of land by home- 
steaders or enlargement of their properties; those 
and other questions under the homestead basis 
may be solved in a somewhat like manner as the>' 
are provided for and solved by the proper regu- 
lations and legislation in the United States and 
those of several other European countries. 

I propose that the Mexican Government will 
grant lands to the small proprietors, natives or 
foreigners, at no cost whatsoever to them, on 
basis of a perpetual rent. The awarding of such 
lands would be a real donation to the homesteader 
for such a perpetual rent with a clear and perfect 
title, but always the land free of any defect, 
responsibility, gra^■amen or further claims against 
him, as the Government will guaranty the pos- 
session of the land without an\' reservation what- 
soever. With only one exception will the new- 
landowner be permitted to mortgage his land, 
provided it is done to the Agrarian Bank — there 
will be, in connection with the land reforms, an 
.Agrarian Bank, the character and by-laws to be 
the subject of special legislation — and that is 
when he needs money for the jiurchase or security 
of payment of agricultural implements, machin- 
er\' and seeds, which would be required for the 
cultivation of his land. In only one case will 
title to the land be revocable and the Indian or 
the new small farmer be deprived of his land, 
namely, when he does not work upon or cultivate 
it during a period of two or three consecutive 
years. Failure of payment due to the .\grarian 
Bank will also cause the Indian to lose his land, 
in which case the ownership of same will re\ert 
to the Government, but the .\grarian Bank will 
lend money to the farmers at a very low rate of 
interest and for a very long s|)ace of time. 

Nothing would gi\'e the agrarian reforms a 



smoother sailing at their inception than the pur- 
chase and subdivision of the best lands, those of 
rich soil which are easily cultivated and of prompt 
yield, so as to help the small farmer to a successful 
outcome and render his life agreeable and at- 
tractive. Barren lands, requiring irrigation works, 
should be left either to the wealthy haceitdados 
who have the power and means to develop them 
and engage in expensive improvements or to the 
great companies that can aftord the time and the 
money to await results. 

'l"he agrarian reforms deal not only with the 
subdivision of land, but will solve other collateral 
jiroblems intimately connected with it, such as 
increase of wages, demand of labor, immigration, 
esi)ecially immigration, so important for Mexico 
and impossible under present war times and wages 
and economic conditions. 1 have said that no im- 
migrant, even if Mexico were at peace, would think 
of going to Mexico at present, although it is the 
richest land on the face of the earth and should, 
logically, olTer to newcomers such opportunities 
as no other country' on the globe can promise. 
Therefore we Mexicans must so arrange our affairs 
that they will be attracted and be safe to settle 
in our countr>-. .\nything that we do toward 
immigration — like the agrarian reforms — must 
not only conform with Mexican laws, customs and 
habits, but also satisfy the demands of foreign 
peasants, their laws, customs, and habits, as we 
arc extending an invitation to outsiders, so foreign 
business men, and financiers, too, will have to 
sui)i)ly the nwney needed for our national devel- 
ojjment. 

When a decent go\-ernment is established, in 
Mexico, peace assured and economic conditions 
become as favorable as they are elsewhere, then 
immigrants will rush to our ports and a new era 
will begin. But this is the moment to prepare 
the agrarian laws and encourage immigration. 
.\fter the European war there will be so much 
poverty and niisery on the old continent that the 
stricken jieoplc will be looking for new lands, and 
they will bi.- glad to live in Mexico if she can otTer 
to them incenlixes which will be apjialling and 
convincing. 

Immigration will create in two or three gener- 
ations a new type of Mexican, a healthy, good 
and i)rosi)erous citizen, as immigration has done 
in .\rgentina and in the United States. That is 
just what I want and what we need. So you see. 
that another of the consequences of the agrarian 
problem will be to create a new t\-pe of Mexican, 
very different from the Mexican of today, a new 
Mexican that will te a useful and productive 
citizen at home and a desirable neighbor, an 
hoiKst and loyal friend of the United States. 

I want the land to be divided. I want .salaries 



56 



to be raised. I want American and European 
immigration to come and share our marvelous 
wealth. The interchange of new ideas and the 
settlement of newcomers will work for the good 
of the race; for the moral, intellectual and eco- 
nomic elevation of my Mexico, and will guarantee 
the practical use of all the rights, public and 
social and individual, and instead of Indians, 
beasts and burdens, there will be good citizens, 
that, with modern methods and machines, will 
yield sure and prompt results in everv walk of 
life. 

Land in Europe is scarce and high priced, and 
in the United States also. In Mexico there is 
plenty of it and it is low in price. In a similar 
area it can produce the same in quantity and 
quality. According to the system which I pro- 
pose, the Government shall give away land free 
to the immigrants, thus oiiering to them a bril- 
liant and unequalled opportunity to begin anew 
their life, under better auspices and greater re- 
sults. And there are more free lands, better lands, 
available lands for cultivation in Mexico than 
anywhere in the world. 

Immigration, without emphasizing what it has 
done for the United States, because we all see 
and enjoy its marvelous results, has greatly helped 
develop Argentina, Brazil and other South Amer- 
ican countries. The population of Argentina is 
growing to be almost entirely of European de- 
scent. During the past fifty years more than 
2,500,000 Italians settled in Argentina, about 



1,500,000 Spaniards, more than 250,000 French- 
men, about 7S,ooo Englishmen, 100,000 Austro- 
Hungarians, more than 75,000 Germans, 75,000 
Swiss and Belgians; a total of almost 5,000,000 
immigrants in a country of 9,000,000 mhabitants. 
The population of Brazil is composed of Portu- 
guese and Africans to a verj' large percentage, and 
more than 1,500,000 Italians, 500,000 Spaniards, 
500,000 Germans, and so forth to such an extent 
that the original people of the country have very 
little, if any, ascendancy over the European settlers 
and are chiefly found in the interior, still leading 
a primitive life. They are no more than 500,000 
in 24,000,000. Mexico, in her days of great 
prosperity, never had more than 100,000 for- 
eigners of various nationalities, who have all left 
the country. 

Immigration is practical education, and for 
education there is a crying need in Mexico. All 
the problems of Mexico, her existence, her future, 
her prosperity, depend on education: books, 
schools, teachers, missionaries. The day in which 
the United States would send to Mexico, instead 
of rifles and ammunitions, bibles and books; the 
day in which the United States would go to Mex- 
ico to open schoolhouses instead of planting mili- 
tary tents; the day in which the United States 
will send to Mexico an army of teachers and mis- 
sionaries instead of an army of marines and sol- 
diers; that day this country would be rendering 
a great service to my country and to humanity. 



57 




At a Banquet tendered in honor of Senor de la Garza, Jr. by leading members of the Government 
and the Bar before he left Mexico 



59 



For Terms and Dates write to 

Emeterio de la Garza, Jr. 

42 Broadway 

Neav York, N. Y. 



Redfield-ICkndrick-Odbli 
new york city 



LIBRARY OF CONGRE' 



015 991 151 5 



